Method, apparatus and system for requesting application function

Abstract

The application provides a method, device and system for requesting application function, the method comprising: enabling a server to determine whether to perform route influence in advance according to first determination information; when it is determined to perform route influence in advance, the enabling server sends an application function request message in advance, the application function request message being used for requesting to perform route influence for one or more application servers. The technical solution provided by the application is advantageous in improving the efficiency of the edge data network in providing application services for different terminal devices, improving the experience of the terminal device in obtaining application services, and reducing the waste of network resources.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication, and more particularly, to a method, apparatus and system for requesting application function. BACKGROUND

[0002] The discovery of edge enabler server (EES) platform and the discovery procedure of edge application server (EAS) are defined in standalone (SA) 6 standard. The EAS determined through the EAS discovery procedure, the edge data network will request the core network to trigger the execution of traffic influence for it, and the timing of executing the EAS discovery and / or traffic influence is worth considering. SUMMARY

[0003] The present application provides a method, apparatus and system for requesting application function, which can be used to determine the timing of triggering the execution of application server discovery and / or traffic influence, and is beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources and improve the experience of terminal device users.

[0004] In a first aspect, a method for requesting application function is provided, comprising:

[0005] The enabler server determines whether to execute traffic influence in advance according to the first determination information.

[0006] The enabler server determines whether to execute traffic influence in advance before executing traffic influence, which is beneficial to the edge data network to determine the timing of triggering the execution of traffic influence according to different situations. When it is determined to execute traffic influence in advance, for the application client with high latency requirement, the optimization of user plane path can be completed for it before it has data interaction with the application server, which is beneficial to reduce the latency of the application client to obtain application service and improve the experience of terminal device users. When it is determined not to execute traffic influence in advance, it is beneficial to reduce the optimization of user plane path for the application client with low latency requirement or temporarily not requiring edge computing service, which is beneficial to reduce the situation that the optimized user plane is empty for a period of time (e.g. from the completion of traffic influence to the data interaction between the application client and the application server), and reduce the waste of network resources.

[0007] In a possible implementation manner: when it is determined to execute traffic influence in advance, the enabler server sends an application function request message in advance, and the application function request message is used to request the execution of traffic influence for one or more application servers.

[0008] According to the first judgment information, the enabling server can obtain a certain judgment result, for the edge data network with sufficient network resources, the enabling server can provide application services for more terminal devices as far as possible by obtaining the certain judgment result, which is beneficial to fully utilize the network resources of the edge data network. For the application client with high delay requirement, the delay of the application client obtaining the application service can be reduced due to the pre-executed routing influence, which is beneficial to improve the user experience of the terminal device user.

[0009] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to pre-execute the routing influence, the enabling server does not pre-send an application function request message, which is used to request to execute the routing influence for one or more application servers.

[0010] According to the first judgment information, the enabling server can obtain a certain judgment result, for the edge data network with sufficient network resources, the enabling server can provide application services for more terminal devices as far as possible by obtaining the certain judgment result, which is beneficial to fully utilize the network resources of the edge data network. For the application client with high delay requirement, the delay of the application client obtaining the application service can be reduced due to the pre-executed routing influence, which is beneficial to improve the user experience of the terminal device user.

[0011] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to pre-execute the routing influence, the enabling server saves the judgment result of not pre-executing the routing influence.

[0012] The enabling server can determine whether to pre-execute the routing influence next time according to the judgment result of not pre-executing the routing influence, without determining whether to pre-execute the routing influence according to the application information again, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the enabling server in determining whether to pre-execute the routing influence.

[0013] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to pre-execute the routing influence, the enabling server sends the judgment result of not pre-executing the routing influence to the enabling client.

[0014] Here, the judgment result of not pre-executing the routing influence can also be referred to as indication information of not pre-executing the routing influence.

[0015] Optionally, the enabling client saves the judgment result of not pre-executing the routing influence.

[0016] The enabling client can determine whether to pre-execute the application server discovery and / or the routing influence next time according to the judgment result of not pre-executing the routing influence.

[0017] Optionally, the enabling server further sends information of one or more application servers to the enabling client, and the enabling client determines the selected application server according to the information of the one or more application servers.

[0018] Optionally, the enabling server determines the selected application server according to one or more application servers, and the enabling client sends information of the one or more application servers or information of the selected application server to the application client.

[0019] Optionally, the application client can determine the selected application server according to the information of the one or more application servers, and request the selected application server to trigger the execution of the routing influence.

[0020] Optionally, the enabling client sends information of the selected application server to the enabling server.

[0021] According to the reported information of the selected application server or the reporting event, the enabling server can determine whether to trigger the execution of the routing influence in advance, which provides multiple bases for the enabling server to determine whether to execute the routing influence in advance, and is beneficial to improve the service provided by the edge data network for different terminal devices or application clients, and is beneficial to improve the stability of the terminal device in obtaining the application service of the edge data network.

[0022] Optionally, the application client sends indication information for triggering the execution of the routing influence to the selected application server, and the indication information is used to request the selected application server to trigger the execution of the routing influence.

[0023] The application client can directly request the selected application server to trigger the execution of the routing influence, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service provided by the application server.

[0024] Optionally, the application client sends indication information for triggering the execution of the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance to the enabling client according to the determination result that the routing influence is not executed in advance.

[0025] Optionally, the enabling client sends the indication information for triggering the execution of the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance to the enabling server.

[0026] The determination result that the routing influence is not executed in advance is sent to the enabling client, which can be used for the enabling client to determine whether to execute the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance for the same terminal device or application client next time, so that the enabling client does not need to determine whether to execute the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance according to the application information again, and the efficiency of the enabling client in performing the determination is improved.

[0027] The technical solution determines the timing of triggering the execution of the routing influence through the first determination information. When it is determined to perform the routing influence in advance, the time delay of the application client with high time delay requirement in obtaining the application service is reduced. When it is determined not to perform the routing influence in advance, the situation that the optimized user plane does not actually provide services for the terminal device within a period of time (for example, from the completion of the routing influence to the data interaction between the application client and the application server) is reduced, the waste of network resources is reduced, and the application service experience of the terminal device user is improved.

[0028] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first determination information includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, time delay requirement, and the like.

[0029] The application type, the application server type, and the time delay requirement can all represent the inherent properties of the application client. Whether to perform the routing influence in advance is determined according to the inherent properties of the application client, which improves the adaptability of the enabling server in providing services for different terminal devices.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the application server type can be determined according to the service key performance indicators of the server. The service key performance indicators include one or more of the following information: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, or storage resources.

[0031] According to one or more information to determine the type of server, the enabling server can determine the type of enabling service according to some basic information of the application server, and then determine whether to perform the routing influence in advance. This simplifies the determination process and message content of the enabling server in determining whether to perform the routing influence in advance, and improves the efficiency of the enabling server in determining whether to perform the routing influence in advance.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first determination information includes indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the routing influence in advance.

[0033] The enabling server obtains the indication information, and determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the indication information, so as to determine whether to send the request message for performing the routing influence for the application server. The enabling server can make a corresponding response in combination with the actual running state and actual demand of the application client. For different indication information, the enabling server can make a corresponding response, so that the application server can better provide the application service for the application client.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the time delay requirement is a time delay requirement of a first packet, which refers to a time delay requirement of a first data packet sent by the application client to one or more application servers.

[0035] The first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the process of communication between the application client and the application server, that is, a first data packet in the data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0036] The time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a time delay requirement of an overall or average of all data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0037] Alternatively, the time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of a time delay requirement of part or all data packets in a specific time period in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server, for example, an arithmetic mean or geometric mean of time delay requirements of all data packets in the first interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0038] In another possible implementation, the time delay requirement is also used to represent a time delay requirement of the application client or a time delay requirement of the application server required by the application client.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the enabling server can also determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to one or more of the following information:

[0040] The enabling client reports selected application server information or the reporting event, or the enabling client reports indication information that the application client is about to transmit data or the reporting event, or the enabling client reports a reporting event of pre-execution influence.

[0041] The enabling server can determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the information content or the reporting event reported by the enabling client, which provides the enabling server with more judgment methods and is conducive to improving the applicability of the enabling server to different terminal devices or in different running scenarios.

[0042] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the enabling server sends a discovery response message, which is used to indicate that the route influence has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0043] The enabling server feeds back the selected application server and the result of having performed the route influence for the application server to the enabling client, so that the enabling client can screen the application server according to the feedback information. For the application server for which the route influence has been performed, the application client can be preferentially fed back to the application client for connection to obtain the application service.

[0044] Optionally, the discovery response message is further used to indicate whether the one or more application servers complete the routing influence.

[0045] Or, the discovery response message is further used to indicate whether the one or more application servers have an optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized to be completed.

[0046] The application client can directly connect the application server that has completed the routing influence, thereby facilitating to improve the efficiency of the application client to obtain the application service of the application server.

[0047] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the enabling server pre-sends a first indication message to the selected application server, the first indication message being used to indicate pre-triggering the execution of the routing influence, and the one or more application servers include the selected application server.

[0048] It should be understood that the first indication message is used to indicate that the selected application server pre-triggers the execution of the routing influence for the selected application server.

[0049] The enabling server can directly request the selected application server to trigger the execution of the routing influence, without requesting the core network to execute the routing influence for the one or more application servers, thereby facilitating to improve the efficiency of the core network to execute the routing influence and the efficiency of the terminal device to obtain the application service.

[0050] In a possible implementation, the first indication message further includes application information and / or indication information, and the selected application server can determine whether to pre-execute the routing influence according to the application information and / or the indication information.

[0051] The application server determines whether to execute the routing influence, thereby facilitating to improve the mechanism of the edge data network to trigger the execution of the routing influence and the efficiency of the edge data network to provide the application service for the terminal device.

[0052] The second aspect provides a method for requesting an application function, including:

[0053] The enabling server determines whether to pre-execute the routing influence according to the first determination information.

[0054] The enabling server judges whether to perform the route influence in advance before performing the route influence, which is beneficial for the edge data network to determine the timing of triggering the execution of the route influence according to different situations. When it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, for the application client with high latency requirement, the optimization of the user plane path can be completed for the application client before it interacts with the application server, thereby being beneficial for reducing the latency of the application client in obtaining the application service and improving the application service experience of the user of the terminal device. When it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, it is beneficial to reduce the optimization of the user plane path for the application client with low latency requirement or temporarily not requiring the edge computing service, thereby being beneficial to reduce the case that the optimized user plane is empty for a period of time (for example, from the completion of the route influence to the time before the application client interacts with the application server) and reduce the waste of network resources.

[0055] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling server pre-sends an indication message for triggering the execution of the route influence to the selected application server, and the indication message is used to indicate the pre-triggering of the execution of the route influence.

[0056] It should be understood that the indication message is used to indicate that the selected application server pre-triggers the execution of the route influence for the selected application server.

[0057] According to the first judgment information, the enabling server can obtain the determined judgment result, for the edge data network with sufficient network resources, the enabling server can provide application services for more terminal devices as possible by obtaining the determined judgment result, which is beneficial to fully utilize the network resources of the edge data network. For the application client with high latency requirement, the latency of the application client in obtaining the application service can be reduced because the route influence is performed in advance, which is beneficial to improve the application service experience of the user of the terminal device.

[0058] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling server does not pre-send an indication message for triggering the execution of the route influence, and the indication message is used to indicate the pre-triggering of the execution of the route influence.

[0059] It should be understood that the indication message is used to indicate that the selected application server pre-triggers the execution of the route influence for the selected application server.

[0060] According to the first judgment information, the enabling server can obtain a negative judgment result. For the edge data network which is insufficient or relatively nervous in network resources, the enabling server can obtain the negative judgment result, and try to reduce the optimization of the user plane path for the terminal device which temporarily does not need the edge computing service, so as to reduce the case that the user plane function network element contained in the optimized user plane is empty for a period of time (for example, before the data interaction between the application client and the application server is completed), reserve network resources or edge data network resources, guarantee the application service quality of the terminal device which has been accessed, and improve the stability of the application service provided by the edge data network.

[0061] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling server saves the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance.

[0062] According to the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance, the enabling server can determine whether the enabling client performs the route influence in advance next time, without determining whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information, and improve the efficiency of the enabling server in determining whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0063] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling server sends the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance to the enabling client.

[0064] Here, the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance can also be referred to as indication information of not performing the route influence in advance.

[0065] Optionally, the enabling client saves the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance.

[0066] According to the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance, the enabling client can determine whether the application client performs the application server discovery and / or the route influence in advance next time, and improve the efficiency of the enabling client in performing the judgment.

[0067] Optionally, the enabling client sends the judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance to the application client.

[0068] According to the received judgment result of not performing the route influence in advance, the application client can determine that the last request fails, and change the request mode or the request path, and improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0069] Optionally, the enabling server also sends the information of the selected application server to the enabling client.

[0070] Optionally, the enabling client sends the information of the selected application server to the application client.

[0071] Optionally, the application client sends, to the selected application server, indication information triggering execution of the routing influence, the indication information being used to request the selected application server to trigger execution of the routing influence for the selected application server.

[0072] After obtaining the information of the selected application server, the application client can directly request the selected application server to execute the routing influence, which is beneficial to simplify the process of triggering execution of the routing influence and improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0073] Optionally, the application client sends, to the enabling client, indication information of triggering execution of the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance according to the result of the judgment on whether to execute the routing influence in advance.

[0074] Optionally, the enabling client sends, to the enabling server, the indication information of triggering execution of the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance.

[0075] After obtaining the result of the judgment on whether to execute the routing influence in advance, the application client directly sends, to the enabling client, the indication information, and the enabling client sends, to the enabling server, the indication information, so as to trigger the routing influence in advance through the indication information, which is beneficial to improve the success rate of triggering execution of the routing influence for the application client.

[0076] The technical solution determines the timing of triggering execution of the routing influence through the first determination information, which is beneficial to reduce the time delay of the application client with high time delay requirement in obtaining the application service when it is determined to execute the routing influence in advance, and is beneficial to reduce the case that the user plane function network element included in the optimized user plane is occupied for a period of time, reduce the waste of network resources, and improve the application service experience of the user of the terminal device.

[0077] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the first determination information includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: an application type, an application server type, or a time delay requirement.

[0078] The application type, the application server type, or the time delay requirement can all represent the inherent attribute of the application client, and the judgment on whether to execute the routing influence in advance is made according to the inherent attribute of the application client, which is beneficial to improve the adaptability of the enabling server in providing services for different terminal devices.

[0079] In a possible implementation manner, the application server type can be determined according to a service key performance indicator of the server. The service key performance indicator includes one or more of the following information: a connection bandwidth, a request rate, a response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, or storage resources.

[0080] According to one or more information, the enabling server can determine the type of the application server according to some basic information of the application server, and then determine whether to perform the route influence in advance, which is beneficial to simplify the judgment process of the enabling server to determine whether to perform the route influence in advance and the message content, and is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the enabling server to determine whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0081] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first determination information includes indication information, the indication information being used to indicate that the application server discovery is performed in advance and / or the route influence is performed in advance.

[0082] The enabling server determines whether to perform the route influence in advance by acquiring the indication information and determining whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the indication information, so as to determine whether to send the request message for performing the route influence for the application server. The enabling server can make a corresponding response in combination with the actual running state and actual demand of the application client, and for different indication information, the enabling server can make a corresponding response, so that the application server can better provide the application service for the application client.

[0083] In a possible implementation, the time delay demand is a time delay demand of a first packet, and the time delay demand of the first packet refers to a time delay demand of a first data packet sent by the application client to one or more application servers.

[0084] The first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the communication process of the application client and the application server, that is, a first data packet in the data interaction of the application client and the application server.

[0085] The time delay demand of the first packet can also be used to indicate an overall time delay demand or an average time delay demand of all data packets in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0086] Alternatively, the time delay demand of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of the time delay demand of part or all data packets in a specific time period in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server. For example, an arithmetic mean or a geometric mean of the time delay demand of all data packets in the first interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0087] In another possible implementation, the time delay demand is also used to represent a time delay demand of the application client or a time delay demand of the application server required by the application client.

[0088] In a possible implementation, the enabling server can also determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to one or more of the following information:

[0089] enabling the client to report selected application server information or the reporting event, or enabling the client to report indication information that the application client is about to transmit data or the reporting event, or enabling the client to report a reporting event of a pre-executed impact.

[0090] The enabling server can determine whether to pre-execute the routing impact according to the information content or the reporting event reported by the enabling client, which provides more judgment methods for the enabling server and is beneficial to improve the applicability of the enabling server for different terminal devices or in different running scenarios.

[0091] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the enabling server sends a discovery response message, the discovery response message being used to indicate that the routing impact has been executed for the one or more application servers.

[0092] The enabling server feeds back the selected application servers and the results of having executed the routing impact for the application servers to the enabling client, so that the enabling client can screen the application servers according to the feedback information. For the application servers that complete the routing impact or the application servers that have the optimized user plane path, the application client can be preferentially fed back, so as to be connected by the application client to obtain the application service of the application server.

[0093] Optionally, the discovery response message is further used to indicate whether the one or more application servers complete the routing impact.

[0094] Or, the discovery response message is further used to indicate whether the one or more application servers have the optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized to be completed.

[0095] The application client can directly connect the application server that has completed the routing impact, thereby being beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service of the application server.

[0096] In a third aspect, a method for requesting an application function is provided, including:

[0097] The enabling client determines whether to pre-execute the application server discovery according to the second determination information.

[0098] The enabling client first determines whether to perform application server discovery in advance before triggering the execution of application server discovery, which is beneficial for the enabling client to determine the timing of triggering the execution of application server discovery according to different situations. When it is determined to perform application server discovery in advance, for an application client with high latency requirement, the application server can be discovered in advance for the application client, so as to perform routing influence for the discovered application server before the application client and the application server have data interaction, thereby being beneficial for reducing the latency of the application client in obtaining application service and improving the application service experience of the terminal device user. When it is determined not to perform application server discovery in advance, the edge data network does not perform application server discovery for the application client before the application client and the application server have data interaction, and further does not trigger the execution of routing influence for the application client in this period of time, thereby being beneficial for improving the effectiveness of the enabling client and the edge data network in communicating signaling interaction, to a certain extent, being beneficial for reducing the case that the user plane function network element included in the optimized user plane is occupied for a period of time, and being beneficial for reducing the waste of network resources.

[0099] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform application server discovery in advance, the enabling client sends an application server discovery request message in advance, and the application server discovery request message is used to request to discover one or more application servers for providing application service for the application client.

[0100] According to the second determination information, the enabling client can obtain the determined determination result, and the enabling client can provide service for more application clients as possible by obtaining the determined determination result, which is beneficial for fully utilizing the network resources of the edge data network. For an application client with high latency requirement, the application server discovery is performed in advance for the application client, which is beneficial for the application client to further request the edge data network to perform routing influence for the discovered application server in advance, thereby being beneficial for reducing the latency of the application client in obtaining application service and improving the application service experience of the terminal device user.

[0101] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform application server discovery in advance, the enabling client does not send an application server discovery request message in advance, and the application server discovery request message is used to request to discover one or more application servers for providing application service for the application client.

[0102] According to the second determination information, the enabling client can obtain a negative determination result, and can reduce the access of the new application client to the edge data network as much as possible, which is beneficial to guarantee the application service quality obtained by the application client that has accessed, and is beneficial to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, since it is determined that the application server discovery is not performed in advance, the edge data network will not perform the routing influence for the application client before the application client and the application server have data interaction, which is beneficial to improve the effectiveness of the communication signaling interaction between the enabling client and the edge data network, and is beneficial to reduce the case that the optimized user plane contains the user plane function network element for a period of time (for example, from completing the routing influence to the time before the application client and the application server have data interaction), and is beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources or edge data network resources.

[0103] In yet another possible implementation, when it is determined that the application server discovery is not performed in advance, the enabling client saves the determination result that the application server discovery is not performed in advance.

[0104] The enabling client can determine whether the application server discovery is performed in advance for the application client next time according to the determination result that the application server discovery is not performed in advance, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the enabling client in determining whether the application server discovery is performed in advance.

[0105] Optionally, the enabling client sends the determination result that the application server discovery is not performed in advance to the application client.

[0106] Optionally, the application client sends the indication of performing the application server discovery in advance and / or the indication of performing the routing influence in advance to the enabling client according to the determination result that the application server discovery is not performed in advance.

[0107] The application client can re-prepare the request to the enabling client next time according to the determination result that the application server discovery is not performed in advance, such as including the indication message of performing the application server discovery in advance in the request message, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of triggering the execution of the application server discovery for the application client.

[0108] In a possible implementation, the enabling client determines whether the routing influence is performed in advance according to the second determination information, determines that the application server discovery is performed in advance when it is determined that the routing influence is performed in advance, and determines that the application server discovery is not performed in advance when it is determined that the routing influence is not performed in advance.

[0109] The pre-execution application server discovery is determined by determining the pre-execution routing influence, so that the application server determined through the application server discovery process can perform the routing influence, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client in determining the application server with the optimized user plane path and the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0110] The technical solution has the advantages of improving the triggering mechanism for enabling the client to trigger the execution of the application server discovery, so that the enabling client triggers the execution of the application server discovery when the condition is met, and providing services for application clients of different types and different running states, and improving the service efficiency and service quality of the enabling client.

[0111] The technical solution determines the timing of executing the application server discovery through the second determination information, and when it is determined to pre-execute the application server discovery, it is beneficial to reduce the time delay of the application client with high time delay requirement in obtaining the application service; and when it is determined not to pre-execute the application server discovery, it is beneficial to improve the effectiveness of the enabling client in communicating with the edge data network signaling interaction, and also beneficial to reduce the situation that the optimized user plane does not actually provide services for the terminal device within a period of time, and beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources.

[0112] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the second determination information includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, or time delay requirement.

[0113] The application type, the application server type, or the time delay requirement can all represent the inherent properties of the application client, and the pre-execution of the application server discovery is determined according to the inherent properties of the application client, which is beneficial to improve the adaptability of the enabling server in providing services for different terminal devices.

[0114] In a possible implementation, the application server type can be determined according to the service key performance indicator of the server. The service key performance indicator includes one or more of the following information: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resource, image computing resource, memory resource, or storage resource.

[0115] According to one or more information to determine the type of server, the enabling server can determine the enabling service type according to some basic information of the application server, and then determine whether to pre-execute the routing influence, which is beneficial to simplify the determination process and message content of the enabling server in determining whether to pre-execute the routing influence, and beneficial to improve the efficiency of the enabling server in determining whether to pre-execute the application server discovery.

[0116] The embodiment of the technical solution is beneficial to enabling the client to determine and respond according to the self attributes of the application client, improving the adaptability of providing services for different types of clients, improving the service efficiency of the enabling client as a whole, improving the application service experience of the user of the terminal device, and improving the service quality of the edge data network.

[0117] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the second determination information includes indication information, which is used to indicate that the application server discovery is performed in advance and / or the routing influence is performed in advance.

[0118] The indication information can reflect the related requirements of the application client for its running environment, and the enabling client can determine whether to perform the routing influence in advance for the application client according to the indication information by obtaining the indication information, thereby determining whether to send the application server discovery request message in advance and triggering the execution of the application server discovery. The enabling client can make a corresponding response in combination with the actual running state and actual requirements of the application client, and the enabling client can make a corresponding response for different indication information, so that the enabling client can better provide services for the application client.

[0119] The embodiment of the technical solution is beneficial to improving the triggering mechanism of the enabling client for triggering the execution of the application server discovery, beneficial to enabling the enabling client to provide services for application clients in different running states or running requirements, beneficial to improving the application service experience of the user of the terminal device, and to a certain extent, beneficial to improving the service quality of the edge data network.

[0120] In a possible implementation, the time delay requirement is a first packet time delay requirement, which refers to a time delay requirement of a first data packet sent by the application client to one or more application servers.

[0121] The first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the communication process of the application client and the application server, that is, a first data packet in the data interaction of the application client and the application server.

[0122] The time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate the overall time delay requirement or the average time delay requirement of all data packets in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0123] Alternatively, the time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of the time delay requirement of part or all data packets in a specific time period in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server. For example, an arithmetic mean or a geometric mean of the time delay requirement of all data packets in the first interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0124] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the enabling client receives a discovery response message sent by the enabling server, the discovery response message being used to indicate that the routing influence has been performed for one or more application servers;

[0125] The enabling client sends a first response message to the application client, the first response message including the one or more application server information, the first response message also being used to indicate that the routing influence has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0126] The enabling client can filter the one or more application servers according to the received discovery response message, and the application server for which the routing influence has been performed can be preferentially fed back to the application client for the application client to connect to and obtain the application service.

[0127] Optionally, the discovery response message is also used to indicate whether the one or more application servers complete the routing influence, or whether the one or more application servers have an optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized to be completed.

[0128] Optionally, the first response message is also used to indicate whether the one or more application servers complete the routing influence, or whether the one or more application servers have an optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized to be completed.

[0129] The application client can directly connect to the application server for which the routing influence has been completed, thereby facilitating the efficiency of the application client to obtain the application service of the application server.

[0130] The enabling client can further send the application server information and the indication information of whether the routing influence of the application server is completed to the application client. The application client can determine which application server to obtain the application service according to the indication information.

[0131] The implementation of the technical solution facilitates the service efficiency of the enabling client and the enabling server, facilitates the application service experience of the user of the terminal device, reduces the signaling waste caused by the redundant interaction between the enabling client and the enabling server, reduces unnecessary user plane path optimization, and reduces network resource waste.

[0132] The fourth aspect provides a method for requesting an application function, including:

[0133] The enabling client determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the second determination information;

[0134] The enabling client first determines whether to perform the route influence in advance before triggering the execution of the route influence, which is beneficial for the enabling client to determine the timing of triggering the execution of the route influence according to different situations. When it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling client can correspondingly trigger the execution of the application server discovery in advance. For an application client with a higher requirement for latency, it is beneficial to trigger the user plane path optimization before the application client and the application server have data interaction, which is beneficial to reduce the latency of the application client in obtaining the application service and improve the application service experience of the user of the terminal device. When it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling client can correspondingly not trigger the execution of the application server discovery in advance, which is beneficial to reduce the case that the edge data network performs the application server discovery in advance for an application client that does not need to perform the application server discovery in advance or performs the route influence in advance for an application client that does not need to perform the route influence in advance, and is beneficial to improve the effectiveness of the communication signaling interaction between the enabling client and the edge data network. In addition, to some extent, it is also beneficial to reduce the case that the optimized user plane contains a user plane function network element that is empty for a period of time (for example, from the completion of the route influence to the data interaction between the application client and the application server), and is beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources.

[0135] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling client sends an application server discovery request message in advance, and the application server discovery request message is used to request to discover one or more application servers for providing an application service for the application client.

[0136] According to the second determination information, the enabling client can obtain a determined determination result, and the enabling client can provide services for more application clients as much as possible by obtaining the determined determination result, which is beneficial to fully utilize the network resources of the edge data network. For an application client with a higher requirement for latency, the route influence is performed in advance, which is beneficial to reduce the latency of the application client in obtaining the application service and improve the application service experience of the user of the terminal device.

[0137] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the enabling client does not send an application server discovery request message in advance, and the application server discovery request message is used to request to discover one or more application servers for providing an application service for the application client.

[0138] According to the second determination information, the enabling client can obtain a negative determination result, and the enabling client can reduce the access of new application clients to the edge data network as much as possible, which is beneficial to guarantee the application service quality obtained by the application clients that have accessed, and is beneficial to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, since it is determined that the routing impact is not to be performed in advance, the enabling client will not trigger the execution of the application server discovery in advance, so that the edge data network will not perform the routing impact for the application client before the application client and the application server have data interaction, which is beneficial to improve the effectiveness of the communication signaling interaction between the enabling client and the edge data network, and is also beneficial to reduce the case that the user plane function network element included in the optimized user plane is occupied for a period of time, and is beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources.

[0139] In a possible implementation, the enabling client determines whether to perform the routing impact in advance after receiving the application server discovery request.

[0140] In another possible implementation, the enabling client determines whether to perform the routing impact in advance after receiving the one or more candidate application server information sent by the enabling server.

[0141] In yet another possible implementation, the enabling client determines whether to perform the routing impact in advance according to the received selected application server information or the event of receiving the selected application server information.

[0142] Optionally, the selected application server can be determined by the application client or the enabling client or the enabling server.

[0143] The enabling client can determine whether to perform the routing impact in advance according to the information sent by the application client, and can also determine whether to perform the routing impact in advance according to the information sent by the enabling server, which is beneficial to improve the mechanism of triggering the execution of the routing impact by the enabling client, and is beneficial to improve the efficiency of triggering the execution of the routing impact by the enabling client.

[0144] The implementation of the technical solution is beneficial to improve the triggering mechanism of triggering the execution of the application server discovery by the enabling client, so that the enabling client triggers the execution of the application server discovery when the determination condition is met, which is beneficial to the enabling client to provide services for application clients of different types and in different running states, and is beneficial to improve the service efficiency and service quality of the enabling client.

[0145] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the second determination information includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: an application type, an application server type, or a time delay requirement.

[0146] The application type, the application server type, or the latency requirement can represent inherent attributes of the application client, and the application server discovery is determined to be performed in advance according to the inherent attributes of the application client, which is beneficial to improve the adaptability of the enabling server to provide services for different terminal devices.

[0147] In a possible implementation, the application server type can be determined according to a service key performance indicator of the server. The service key performance indicator includes one or more of the following information: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, and storage resources.

[0148] According to the one or more pieces of information, the enabling server can determine the enabling service type according to some basic information of the application server, and then determine whether to perform the route influence in advance, which is beneficial to simplify the judgment process and the message content of the enabling server to determine whether to perform the route influence in advance, and is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the enabling server to determine whether to perform the application server discovery in advance.

[0149] The implementation of the technical solution is beneficial to enable the client to determine and respond according to the inherent attributes of the application client, is beneficial to improve the adaptability of the enabling client to provide services for different types of clients, is beneficial to improve the overall service efficiency of the enabling client, is beneficial to improve the application service experience of the terminal device user, and is also beneficial to improve the service quality of the edge data network.

[0150] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the second determination information includes indication information, which is used to indicate the pre-execution of the application server discovery and / or the pre-execution of the route influence.

[0151] The indication information can represent the related requirements of the application client for its running environment, and the enabling client can determine whether to perform the route influence in advance for the application client according to the indication information by obtaining the indication information, so as to determine whether to send the application server discovery request message in advance and trigger the execution of the application server discovery. The enabling client can respond according to the actual running state and actual requirements of the application client, and can respond to different indication information, so that the enabling client can better provide services for the application client.

[0152] The implementation of the technical solution is beneficial to improve the triggering mechanism of the enabling client to trigger the execution of the application server discovery, is beneficial to enable the enabling client to provide services for the application clients in different running states or running requirements, is beneficial to improve the application service experience of the terminal device user, and is also beneficial to improve the service quality of the edge data network to a certain extent.

[0153] In a possible implementation, the time delay requirement is a time delay requirement of a first packet, which refers to a time delay requirement of a first data packet sent by the application client to one or more application servers.

[0154] The first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the process of communication between the application client and the application server, that is, a first data packet in the data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0155] The time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a time delay requirement of an overall or average of all data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0156] Alternatively, the time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of a time delay requirement of part or all data packets in a specific time period in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server, for example, an arithmetic mean or geometric mean of time delay requirements of all data packets in the first interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0157] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, determining whether to preform the route influence includes determining whether to preform the application server discovery.

[0158] Combining the determination of whether to preform the route influence with the determination of whether to preform the application server discovery can simplify the process of determining, for the application client, an application server with an optimized user plane path, and improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0159] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the enabling client receives a discovery response message sent by the enabling server, and the discovery response message is used to indicate that the route influence has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0160] The enabling client sends a first response message to the application client, and the first response message includes the one or more application server information and is used to indicate that the route influence has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0161] The enabling client can filter the one or more application servers according to the received discovery response message, and the application servers for which the route influence has been performed can be preferentially fed back to the application client, for the application client to connect and obtain the application service.

[0162] Optionally, the discovery response message is also used to indicate whether the one or more application servers complete the route influence, or whether the one or more application servers have an optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized.

[0163] Optionally, the first response message is further used to indicate whether the one or more application servers complete the routing influence or whether the one or more application servers have an optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized.

[0164] The application client can directly connect to the application server that has completed the routing influence, thereby facilitating the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service of the application server.

[0165] The indication information of whether the application server completes the routing influence can be further sent to the application client after the application client obtains the application server information and the indication information. The application client can determine which application server to obtain the application service according to the indication information.

[0166] The implementation of the technical solution facilitates the service efficiency of the enabling client and the enabling server, improves the application service experience of the user of the terminal device, reduces the signaling waste caused by the redundant interaction between the enabling client and the enabling server, reduces unnecessary user plane path optimization, and reduces the waste of network resources.

[0167] In a fifth aspect, a method for requesting an application function is provided, including:

[0168] The application client determines whether to preform the application server discovery and / or preform the routing influence according to the application information, the application information including one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, or time delay requirement, etc.

[0169] The application type, the application server type, or the time delay requirement, etc. can all represent the inherent properties of the application client. The application client determines whether to preform the application server discovery and / or preform the routing influence according to the inherent properties, i.e., determines the timing of performing the application server discovery and / or performing the routing influence, thereby facilitating the initiative of the application client in obtaining the application service. When it is determined to preform the application server discovery and / or preform the routing influence, the application client that has a higher requirement on time delay can request to optimize the user plane path before it has data interaction with the application server, thereby reducing the time delay in obtaining the application service. When it is determined not to preform the application server discovery and / or preform the routing influence, the application client does not need to preform the request or the indication information of performing the application server discovery and / or performing the routing influence, thereby facilitating the effectiveness of the signaling interaction between the application client and the enabling client, and reducing the waste of network resources.

[0170] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to preform the application server discovery and / or preform the routing influence, the application client preforms the first request message to the enabling client.

[0171] According to the second judgment information, the application client can obtain a determined judgment result, and can actively request to obtain the service provided by the edge data network by obtaining the determined judgment result, thereby facilitating full use of network resources of the edge data network. For an application client with high latency requirement, the application client can request to optimize the user plane path before data interaction between the application client and the application server, thereby reducing the latency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0172] In a possible implementation, when it is determined that the application server discovery is not to be performed in advance and / or the route influence is not to be performed in advance, the application client does not pre-send the first request message to the enabling client.

[0173] According to the second judgment information, the application client can obtain a negative judgment result, and can reduce the probability of obtaining the application service of the edge data network by obtaining the negative judgment result, thereby facilitating guarantee of the quality of the application service obtained by the application client that has accessed, and reducing power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, the application client does not need to pre-send a request or indication information for performing the application server discovery and / or performing the route influence, thereby facilitating improvement of effectiveness of signaling interaction between the application client and the enabling client, and reducing waste of network resources.

[0174] In a possible implementation, when the application client determines, according to the application information, that the application server discovery is not to be performed in advance and / or the route influence is not to be performed in advance, and the terminal device or the user of the application client specifies that the application server discovery is to be performed in advance or the route influence is to be performed in advance, the application client pre-sends, in response to a requirement or indication of the user, the pre-performing application server discovery request indication information and / or the pre-performing route influence indication information to the enabling client.

[0175] In another possible implementation, when the application client determines, according to the application information, that the current application server cannot meet the application requirement, the application client pre-sends the pre-performing application server discovery request indication information and / or the pre-performing route influence indication information to the enabling client.

[0176] According to the application information, the application client can determine that the application server discovery and / or the route influence cannot be performed in advance, and can request the enabling client to perform corresponding operations by sending the pre-performing application server discovery request indication information and / or the pre-performing route influence indication information, thereby facilitating improvement of the probability of the application client in obtaining the application service, and improvement of initiative of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0177] In a possible implementation, the application server type can be determined according to a service key performance indicator of the server. The service key performance indicator includes one or more of the following information: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, and storage resources.

[0178] According to the one or more pieces of information, the application client can determine the service type of the application server according to some basic information of the application server, and then determine whether to perform the route influence in advance, which is beneficial to simplify the judgment process of the application client for determining whether to perform the route influence in advance and the message content, and is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client for determining whether to perform the application server discovery in advance.

[0179] According to the application information, the timing of performing the application server discovery and / or the route influence is determined. When it is determined to perform the application server discovery and / or the route influence in advance, the time delay of the application client for obtaining the application service is reduced, which has a higher requirement on time delay. When it is determined not to perform the application server discovery and / or the route influence in advance, the effectiveness of the signaling interaction between the application client and the enabling client is improved. In addition, the implementation of the technical solution is beneficial to improve the service quality and service efficiency of the enabling client and the enabling server, improve the service experience of the application client, reduce the signaling waste to a certain extent, reduce unnecessary user plane path optimization, and reduce the waste of network resources.

[0180] In combination with the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the first request message includes application information and / or indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0181] The application client sends the application information and / or the indication information to the enabling client, and the enabling client can determine whether to trigger the corresponding operation according to the received message after receiving the information.

[0182] The implementation of the technical solution is beneficial to improve the triggering mechanism of the enabling client for triggering the application server discovery, so that the enabling client triggers the application server discovery when the condition is met, is beneficial to the enabling client for providing services for application clients of different types and different running states, and is beneficial to improve the service efficiency and service quality of the enabling client.

[0183] In a possible implementation, the time delay requirement is a first packet time delay requirement, and the first packet time delay requirement refers to a time delay requirement of a first data packet sent by the application client to one or more application servers.

[0184] The first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the communication process of the application client and the application server, that is, a first data packet in the data interaction of the application client and the application server.

[0185] The latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate the overall latency requirement or the average latency requirement of all data packets in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0186] Alternatively, the latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of the latency requirement of part or all data packets in a specific time period in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server. For example, an arithmetic mean or a geometric mean of the latency requirement of all data packets in the first interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0187] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, the application client receives a first response message, the first response message comprising one or more application server information, and the first response message further being used to indicate that the routing influence has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0188] The application client obtains the information of the one or more application servers and the indication information of whether the routing influence is completed by the one or more application servers through the reception of the first response message. According to the indication information, the application client can preferentially select the application server that has performed the routing influence to provide the application service for the application client, which is beneficial to accelerate the rate of the application client obtaining the application service and improve the service experience of the application client.

[0189] Optionally, the first response message is further used to indicate whether the routing influence is completed by the one or more application servers, or the first response message is further used to indicate whether the one or more application servers have the optimized user plane path or the user plane path is optimized to be completed.

[0190] The application client can directly connect the application server that has completed the routing influence, thereby being beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client obtaining the application service of the application server.

[0191] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementations of the fifth aspect, when it is determined to preform the application server discovery and / or preform the routing influence, the application client pre-sends a second indication message to a selected application server, the second indication message being used to indicate that the routing influence is pre-triggered to be performed, and the one or more application servers comprise the selected application server.

[0192] In a possible implementation, when the first response message indicates that the routing influence is not performed for the one or more application servers, the application client determines whether to preform the routing influence according to the application information;

[0193] When it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the application client sends a second indication message to the selected application server in advance, the second indication message being used to request the route influence to be performed in advance.

[0194] When it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the application client does not send the second indication message to the selected application server in advance, the second indication message being used to request the route influence to be performed in advance.

[0195] Optionally, the application client determines the selected application server according to the information of the one or more application servers.

[0196] When the feedback application server does not complete the route influence or does not have the optimized user plane path, the application client can determine, according to the application information, whether to send a request to trigger the route influence to be performed for the application server to the feedback application server. The selected application server of the application client does not need to be fed back to the enabling client and then to the enabling server to trigger the route influence, which is beneficial to reduce the waste of signaling used for interaction among the application client, the enabling client and the enabling server, and is beneficial to improve the application service experience of the user of the terminal device.

[0197] In a sixth aspect, a method for requesting an application function is provided, and the method comprises:

[0198] The application client determines whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information, the application information comprising one or more of the following information: an application type, an application server type, a time delay requirement and the like.

[0199] The application type, the application server type or the time delay requirement and the like can all represent the inherent attribute of the application client, and the application client determines whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance, that is, determines the timing of performing the route influence, which is beneficial to improve the initiative of the application client in obtaining the application service. When it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the application client that has a higher time delay requirement can request the user plane path to be optimized before the application client has data interaction with the application server, so as to reduce the time delay in obtaining the application service. When it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the application client does not need to send the request or the indication information for performing the route influence in advance, which is beneficial to improve the effectiveness of the signaling interaction between the application client and the enabling client, and is beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources.

[0200] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the application client sends a second request message to the selected application server in advance, the second request message being used to request the route influence to be performed in advance, and the selected application server is included in one or more application servers used to provide the application service for the application client.

[0201] It should be understood that the second request message is used to request the selected application server to perform the route influence in advance for the selected application server.

[0202] According to the second judgment information, the application client can obtain a determined judgment result, and the application client can actively request to obtain the service provided by the edge data network by obtaining the determined judgment result, which is beneficial to fully utilize the network resources of the edge data network. For the application client with high latency requirement, the user plane path can be optimized before the application client has data interaction with the application server, so as to reduce the latency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0203] In a possible implementation, when it is determined that the route influence is not performed in advance, the application client does not send the second request message in advance to the selected application server, the second request message is used to request to perform the route influence in advance, and the selected application server is included in one or more application servers used to provide the application service for the application client.

[0204] According to the second judgment information, the application client can obtain a negative judgment result, and the application client can reduce the probability of obtaining the edge data network application service by obtaining the negative judgment result, which is beneficial to guarantee the quality of the application service obtained by the application client that has accessed, and is beneficial to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, the application client does not need to send the request or indication information for performing the application server discovery and / or performing the route influence in advance, which is beneficial to improve the effectiveness of the signaling interaction between the application client and the enabling client, and is beneficial to reduce the waste of network resources.

[0205] In a possible implementation, when it is determined that the application server discovery is not performed in advance and / or the route influence is not performed in advance, the application client sends the pre-execution application server discovery request indication information and / or the pre-execution route influence indication information to the enabling client in advance.

[0206] According to the application information, it is determined that the application server discovery and / or the route influence cannot be performed in advance, and the application client can request the enabling client to perform the corresponding operation by sending the pre-execution application server discovery request indication information and / or the pre-execution route influence indication information, which is beneficial to improve the probability of the application client obtaining the application service, and is beneficial to improve the initiative of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0207] In a possible implementation, the application server type can be determined according to a service key performance indicator of the server. The service key performance indicator includes at least one of the following information: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resource, image computing resource, memory resource, and storage resource.

[0208] According to the one or more information, the application client can determine the enabled service type according to some basic information of the application server, and then determine whether to perform the route influence in advance, thereby facilitating to simplify the judgment process of the application client for determining whether to perform the route influence in advance and the message content, and improving the efficiency of the application client for determining whether to perform the application server discovery in advance.

[0209] The technical solution determines the timing of performing the route influence according to the application information. When it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the time delay of the application client obtaining the application service is reduced. When it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the effectiveness of the signaling interaction between the application client and the enabled client is improved. In addition, the implementation of the technical solution improves the service quality and service efficiency of the enabled client and the enabled server, improves the service experience of the application client, to a certain extent, reduces the signaling waste, reduces unnecessary user plane path optimization, and reduces the waste of network resources.

[0210] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, before determining whether to perform the route influence in advance, the application client sends a third request message, and the third request message is used to request to discover one or more application servers.

[0211] When the feedback application server does not complete the route influence or does not have the optimized user plane path, the application client can determine whether to send a request for triggering the route influence for the application server to the feedback application server according to the application information. The application client selected application server does not need to be fed back to the enabled client and then fed back to the enabled server to trigger the route influence, which reduces the waste of signaling used for the interaction between the application client, the enabled client and the enabled server, and improves the application service experience of the terminal device user.

[0212] The seventh aspect provides a communication system, including an enabled server, an enabled client and an application client, wherein the enabled server is used to implement the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof, the enabled client is used to implement the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof or the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof, and the application client is used to implement the method in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof or the method in the sixth aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof.

[0213] The eighth aspect provides a device for requesting an application function, including a processing unit and a transceiver unit,

[0214] The processing unit is used to determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the first determination information.

[0215] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the transceiver is configured to transmit, in advance, an application function request message for requesting to perform the route influence for the one or more application servers.

[0216] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the transceiver is configured to not transmit, in advance, an application function request message for requesting to perform the route influence for the one or more application servers.

[0217] With reference to the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the first determination information comprises application information, the application information comprising one or more of the following: an application type, a server type, or a latency requirement, and the processing unit is specifically configured to:

[0218] determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to one or more of the application type, the server type, or the latency requirement.

[0219] With reference to the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the first determination information comprises indication information for indicating whether to perform the application server discovery indication in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance, and the processing unit is specifically configured to:

[0220] determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the indication of whether to perform the application server discovery indication in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0221] With reference to the eighth aspect, in some implementations of the eighth aspect, the transceiver is further configured to: transmit a discovery response message for indicating that the route influence has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0222] A ninth aspect provides an apparatus for requesting an application function, comprising a processing unit and a transceiver,

[0223] the processing unit is configured to determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to first determination information.

[0224] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the route influence in advance, the transceiver is configured to transmit, in advance, an indication message for triggering the performance of the route influence to the selected application server, the indication message being used to indicate that the performance of the route influence is triggered in advance.

[0225] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route influence in advance, the transceiver is configured to not transmit, in advance, an indication message for triggering the performance of the route influence to the selected application server, the indication message being used to indicate that the performance of the route influence is triggered in advance.

[0226] In some implementations of the ninth aspect, in conjunction with the ninth aspect, the first decision information includes application information including one or more of an application type, a server type, or a latency requirement, and the processing unit is specifically configured to:

[0227] determine whether to perform the route impact in advance according to one or more of the application type, the server type, or the latency requirement.

[0228] In some implementations of the ninth aspect, in conjunction with the ninth aspect, the first decision information includes indication information indicating whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route impact in advance, and the processing unit is specifically configured to:

[0229] determine whether to perform the route impact in advance according to the indication of whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route impact in advance.

[0230] In some implementations of the ninth aspect, in conjunction with the ninth aspect, the transceiver is further configured to: send a discovery response message indicating that the route impact has been performed for the one or more application servers.

[0231] A tenth aspect provides a device for requesting an application function, including a processing unit and a transceiver,

[0232] the processing unit is configured to determine whether to perform the application server discovery in advance according to second decision information.

[0233] In one possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the application server discovery in advance, the transceiver is configured to send an application server discovery request message in advance, the application server discovery request message being used to request discovery of one or more application servers for providing an application service for an application client.

[0234] In another possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the application server discovery in advance, the transceiver is configured not to send the application server discovery request message in advance, the application server discovery request message being used to request discovery of one or more application servers for providing an application service for an application client.

[0235] In some implementations of the tenth aspect, in conjunction with the tenth aspect, the second decision information includes application information including one or more of an application type, a server type, or a latency requirement, and the processing unit is specifically configured to:

[0236] determine whether to perform the application server discovery in advance according to one or more of the application type, the server type, or the latency requirement.

[0237] In conjunction with the tenth aspect, in certain implementations of the tenth aspect, the second determination information includes indication information, which is used to instruct the application server discovery indication to be executed in advance and / or the routing effect to be executed in advance. Specifically, the processing unit is used for:

[0238] Pre-executed application server discovery is determined based on the pre-executed application server discovery indication and / or the pre-executed route impact indication.

[0239] In conjunction with aspect ten, in some implementations of aspect ten, the transceiver unit is also configured to receive a discovery response message indicating that routing effects have been performed for one or more application servers;

[0240] The transceiver unit is also used to send a first response message, which includes information about one or more application servers and is also used to indicate that routing effects have been performed for one or more application servers.

[0241] Eleventhly, an apparatus for requesting application functions is provided, including a processing unit and a transceiver unit.

[0242] This processing unit is used to determine whether to pre-execute routing effects based on the second determination information.

[0243] In one possible implementation, when the pre-execution routing impact is determined, the transceiver unit is used to pre-send an application server discovery request message, which requests the discovery of one or more application servers, which are used to provide application services to application clients.

[0244] In another possible implementation, when it is determined that routing effects should not be performed in advance, the transceiver unit is used to not send an application server discovery request message in advance, which is used to request the discovery of one or more application servers, which are used to provide application services to application clients.

[0245] In conjunction with aspect eleven, in some implementations of aspect eleven, the second determination information includes application information, which includes one or more of the following: application type, server type, or latency requirements, etc., and the processing unit is specifically used for:

[0246] Whether to pre-execute routing impacts depends on one or more of the following: application type, server type, or latency requirements.

[0247] In conjunction with the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the second determination information includes indication information, which is used to instruct the application server discovery indication to be executed in advance and / or the routing effect to be executed in advance. Specifically, the processing unit is used for:

[0248] determining the pre-execution routing influence according to the pre-execution application server discovery indication and / or the pre-execution routing influence indication.

[0249] With reference to the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the processing unit is further configured to determine whether to pre-execute the application server discovery.

[0250] With reference to the eleventh aspect, in some implementations of the eleventh aspect, the transceiver is further configured to receive a discovery response message, the discovery response message being configured to indicate that the routing influence has been executed for the one or more application servers.

[0251] The transceiver is further configured to send a first response message, the first response message comprising the one or more application server information, the first response message being further configured to indicate that the routing influence has been executed for the one or more application servers.

[0252] A twelfth aspect provides an apparatus for requesting an application function, comprising a processing unit and a transceiver,

[0253] The processing unit is configured to determine whether to pre-execute the application server discovery and / or pre-execute the routing influence according to application information, the application information comprising one or more of the following information: application type, server type, and latency requirement.

[0254] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to pre-execute the application server discovery and / or pre-execute the routing influence, the transceiver is configured to pre-send a first request message to an enabling client;

[0255] In a possible implementation, when it is determined not to pre-execute the application server discovery and / or not to pre-execute the routing influence, the transceiver is configured not to pre-send the first request message to the enabling client.

[0256] With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some implementations of the twelfth aspect, the transceiver is further configured to receive a first response message, the first response message comprising the one or more application server information, the first response message being further configured to indicate that the routing influence has been executed for the one or more application servers.

[0257] With reference to the twelfth aspect, in some implementations of the twelfth aspect, when it is determined to pre-execute the application server discovery and / or pre-execute the routing influence, the transceiver is specifically configured to pre-send a second indication message to a selected application server, the second indication message being configured to indicate that the routing influence is triggered to be executed in advance, the one or more application servers comprising the selected application server.

[0258] A thirteenth aspect provides an apparatus for requesting an application function, comprising a processing unit and a transceiver,

[0259] The processing unit is configured to determine whether to perform the route impact in advance according to application information, the application information comprising one or more of the following: application type, server type, or latency requirement.

[0260] In a possible implementation, when it is determined to perform the route impact in advance, the transceiving unit is configured to send a second request message to a selected application server in advance, the second request message being used to request to perform the route impact in advance, the selected application server being comprised in one or more application servers used to provide an application service for the application client.

[0261] In a possible implementation, when it is determined not to perform the route impact in advance, the transceiving unit is configured to not send the second request message to the selected application server in advance, the second request message being used to request to perform the route impact in advance, the selected application server being comprised in one or more application servers used to provide an application service for the application client.

[0262] With reference to the thirteenth aspect, in some implementations of the thirteenth aspect, the transceiving unit is further configured to: send a third request message, the third request message being used to request to discover the one or more application servers.

[0263] A fourteenth aspect provides a device for requesting an application function, comprising a processor configured to execute computer instructions stored in a memory, so that the device performs the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0264] A fifteenth aspect provides a device for requesting an application function, comprising a processor configured to execute computer instructions stored in a memory, so that the device performs the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0265] A sixteenth aspect provides a device for requesting an application function, comprising a processor configured to execute computer instructions stored in a memory, so that the device performs the method in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or the method in the sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0266] A seventeenth aspect provides a computer program product, the computer program product comprising computer program code which, when executed on a computer, causes the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof, or the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof, to be performed.

[0267] In an eighteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed or the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0268] In a nineteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0269] In a twentieth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0270] In a twenty-first aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0271] In a twenty-second aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0272] In a twenty-third aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor configured to read instructions stored in a memory, which, when executed by the processor, cause the chip to implement the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0273] In a twenty-fourth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor configured to read instructions stored in a memory, which, when executed by the processor, cause the chip to implement the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed.

[0274] In a twenty-fifth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor configured to read instructions stored in a memory, which, when executed by the processor, cause the chip to implement the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation thereof or the method of the sixth aspect or any possible implementation thereof to be performed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0275] Figure 1 Figure 1 is a network architecture diagram suitable for embodiments of the present application.

[0276] Figure 2 Figure 2 is an EAS discovery procedure diagram suitable for embodiments of the present application.

[0277] Figure 3 Figure 3 is an EES discovery procedure diagram suitable for embodiments of the present application.

[0278] Figure 4 Figure 4 is a method diagram for triggering execution of a routing impact according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0279] Figure 5 Figure 5 is a method diagram for triggering execution of a routing impact according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0280] Figure 6 Figure 6 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0281] Figure 7 Figure 7 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0282] Figure 8 Figure 8 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0283] Figure 9 Figure 9 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0284] Figure 10 Figure 10 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0285] Figure 11 Figure 11 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0286] Figure 12 Figure 12 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0287] Figure 13 Figure 13 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0288] Figure 14 Figure 14 is a method diagram for requesting an application function according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

[0289] Figure 15 Figure 15 is a communication device diagram according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0290] Figure 16is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0291] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0292] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, represents "a singular noun or a plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, "a plurality of" means two or more, and "a plurality of" in "one or more" means similar to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects. For example, A / B means A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0293] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as a global system for mobile communication (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, a general packet radio service (GPRS), a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD), a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5th generation (5G) system or a future 6th generation (6G) system, etc.

[0294] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application can refer to a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent or a user apparatus. The terminal device can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a public land mobile network (PLMN), etc. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0295] The network device in the embodiments of the present application can be a device for communicating with the terminal device. The network device can be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a global system of mobile communication (GSM) system or a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, can be a base station (nodeb, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, can be an evolved nodeb (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, can be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network or a network device in a PLMN network, etc. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0296] Figure 1 is a network architecture diagram suitable for the embodiments of the present application.

[0297] The user equipment (UE) includes one or more application clients (ACs) and an edge enabler client (EEC). The user equipment can establish a connection with an edge data network through the application client and / or the edge enabler client to obtain application services.

[0298] An application client (AC) is used by an application user to obtain application service from an application server. The application client is a client program of an application on a terminal side. The application client can connect to an application server on a cloud to obtain application service, or can connect to an edge application server (EAS) deployed in one or more edge data networks (EDN) to obtain application service.

[0299] An edge enabler client (EEC) is used to register information of the EEC and information of the application client to an edge enabler server (EES), perform security authentication and authorization, obtain an internet protocol (IP) address of the EAS from the EES, and provide edge computing enabling capabilities to the application client, such as providing an EAS discovery service and returning the IP address of the EAS to the application client.

[0300] An edge data network (EDN) includes an edge application server (EAS) and an edge enabler server (EES). Through cooperation of the edge application server and the edge enabler server, the edge data network can provide application service for a user equipment.

[0301] An edge application server (EAS), which can also be referred to as an edge application, an application instance, an edge application instance, a muti-access edge computing (MEC) application (server), or an EAS function. The EAS is an application deployed in an edge data network, specifically a server application (for example, social media, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR)). One application can deploy one or more EASs in one or more EDNs. EASs deployed in different EDNs can be considered as different EASs of one application. They can share one domain name, can use one IP address, or can use different IP addresses.

[0302] An edge enabler server (EES) is used to provide some enabling capabilities for an application instance deployed in an EDN, and can better support a deployment request of an application in a MEC. The EES can support registration of an edge application, authentication and authorization of a UE, provide IP address information of an application instance to the UE, and further support obtaining an identifier and IP address information of an application instance, and further send the identifier and IP address information of the application instance to an edge configuration server (ECS).

[0303] EES is deployed in EDN, generally, EAS registers to an EES, or the information of an EAS is configured on an EES through a management system, the EES is called the EES associated with the EAS, and the EES can control and manage the EAS registered and configured on the EES.

[0304] An edge configuration server (ECS) is responsible for the configuration of the EDN, such as providing the information of an EES to a UE, and can also directly provide the information of an application instance to the UE and interact with a domain name system (DNS) of an application to obtain the information of the application instance, and further obtain and save the information of the application instance and the IP address from other functional entities.

[0305] As shown in Figure 1 , an application data traffic (ADT) is set between an application client and an edge application server, and a communication interface is set between the application client and an edge-enabled client, the edge application server and an edge-enabled server, the edge-enabled server and an edge configuration server, and the like.

[0306] Under the network architecture shown in Figure 1 , an application user signs a service agreement with a provider of an application to provide services for the application user, and the application user logs in an application client on a terminal and communicates through the connection between the application client and an EAS. The enabled client is an intermediate layer, generally located in an operating system or between the application client and the operating system. The application client can obtain edge-enabled services from the enabled client in the form of an application programming interface (API).

[0307] Based on the network architecture shown in Figure 1 , the application context relocation process is as follows:

[0308] (1) Detection of application context relocation: it is determined that context relocation may be needed, at which time some events are detected by a detection entity, such as a change in the location of a UE or an update of a user plane path of a UE.

[0309] (2) Decision of application context relocation: a decision entity determines that context relocation is needed.

[0310] (3) Application context migration execution: mainly transferring the context of the application from the source EAS to the target EAS, and further including notifying the terminal target EAS of information, notifying the network that the context migration is completed and the related information of the target EAS (such as the address of the target EAS, the N6 routing information corresponding to the target EAS, etc.).

[0311] (4) Application context migration cleaning: involving multiple entities, such as the application client initiating a new socket connection to the target EAS, etc.

[0312] Before formally introducing the embodiments of the present application, first explain some professional terms that may be used in the following embodiments.

[0313] 1. Edge computing: also translated as edge computing, is a distributed computing architecture that moves application programs, data, and service computing from network center nodes to network logically edge nodes for processing. Edge computing breaks down large services that are originally completely processed by center nodes into smaller and more manageable parts and distributes them to edge nodes for processing. Edge nodes are closer to user terminal devices, which can speed up data processing and transmission speed and reduce latency. Under this architecture, data analysis and knowledge generation are closer to the source of data, so it is more suitable for processing big data.

[0314] 2. Multi-access edge computing (MEC): it can use wireless access network to provide information technology (IT) services and cloud computing functions close to the user, create a high-performance, low-latency and high-bandwidth telecommunications service environment, accelerate the rapid download of various contents, services and applications in the network, and provide consumers with uninterrupted high-quality network experience.

[0315] 3. Data network (DN): refers to the service network of operators or third parties, which can provide services to user equipment, such as operator services, Internet services, etc.

[0316] 4. Local data network (LADN): an access point of a data network that is very close to the user's attachment point.

[0317] 5、Edge Data Network (EDN): A general understanding is that EDN only corresponds to one data network, which is a special Local Data Network (LDN), contains edge enabling functions, can use data network access identifier (DNAI) and data network name (DNN) identifier, and is a network logical concept. Another understanding of EDN is that EDN is a peer concept of the central cloud, which can be understood as a local data center (geographical location concept), can use DNAI to identify, and can contain multiple local data networks.

[0318] 6、Application Context: Refers to the running state information related to one or a group of users, and optionally also contains the context of the one or more users subscribed by the source EAS and the core network, such as transaction identifier of the subscription, etc. Optionally, it also contains the context of the one or more users on the EES, such as the transaction identifier of the subscription of the one or more users by the source EAS.

[0319] 7、Application Context Migration: During the running of an edge application, when the UE moves out of the current service area, such as UE movement between EDNs, UE movement between LADNs, the edge application server currently providing services can not be able to continue to provide services for the currently running application, or the edge application server currently providing services is not the optimal application server that can provide services for the UE, and other edge application servers can be more suitable for serving the application client on the UE, so a new edge application server needs to be used to replace the edge application server currently providing services to better provide services for the UE, and in this process, the application service will be temporarily suspended or interrupted, and the application context needs to be migrated to the new edge application server, so as to minimize the impact of the application running interruption.

[0320] 8、Data Network Access Identifier (DNAI): User plane identifier for accessing a data network.

[0321] 9、Routing influence: refers to a process in which a session management function (SMF) network element or a network exposure function (NEF) network element of a core network determines an optimized user plane path between a terminal device and an application server. By performing routing influence, an application client or a terminal device can access an edge data network (EAS or EES) through a suitable user plane function (UPF) network element, thereby obtaining a network application service. For a case in which an optimized user plane path already exists between a terminal device and an application server, a session management function network element or a network exposure function network element does not need to perform routing influence again.

[0322] Routing influence can be triggered by an enabling server or an application server or a configuration server. Routing influence can be performed in a direct triggering manner, for example, the enabling server directly sends an application function request message to an SMF or an NEF of a core network, requesting triggering of routing influence. Routing influence can also be performed in an indirect triggering manner, for example, the enabling server sends an indication message for triggering of routing influence to a selected application server, and the selected application server sends an application function request message to an SMF or an NEF, requesting triggering of routing influence.

[0323] It should be noted that in this application, only the session management function network element and the network exposure function network element are used as examples to illustrate the execution process of routing influence. In the future, routing influence can also be performed by other core network elements, or the session management function network element and the network exposure function network element can also have other names, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0324] The session management function network element described in the application candidate can be replaced by an SMF network element or an SMF, the network exposure function network element can be replaced by an NEF network element or an NEF, and the user plane function network element can be replaced by a UPF network element or a UPF.

[0325] The following will be described in combination with Figure 2 First, the EAS discovery process applicable to the embodiments of the present application is described.

[0326] The EAS discovery process is used to determine one or more application servers that can provide application services for an application client. After the EEC obtains uniform resource locator (URL) information, an IP address or other information of an EES, and the EES configures an EAS discovery policy of an edge computing service provider (ESCP), the EAS discovery can be performed.

[0327] S101, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request message to the EES.

[0328] The EAS discovery request includes the EEC ID and security credentials, and can include EAS discovery filter parameters to retrieve information about specific EASs or specific categories of EASs (e.g., gaming applications).

[0329] The information that can be contained in the EAS discovery request message is shown in Table 1.

[0330] Table 1. Information contained in the EAS discovery request message

[0331]

[0332] S102, the EES checks whether the EEC is authorized to discover the requested EAS.

[0333] When the EES check determines that the EEC is authorized, the EES identifies the EAS based on the EAS discovery filter parameters and the location of the user device.

[0334] The information that can be contained in the EAS discovery filter parameters is shown in Table 2.

[0335] Table 2. Information contained in the EAS discovery filter parameters

[0336]

[0337] The information that can be contained in the AC profile of the EAS discovery filter parameters is shown in Table 3.

[0338] Table 3. Information contained in the AC profile

[0339]

[0340]

[0341] In some embodiments, the EES does not obtain the EAS discovery filter parameters, and the EES identifies the EAS based on user device specific service information on the EES and the location of the terminal device.

[0342] In some embodiments, the EES does not obtain the EAS discovery filter parameters, and the EES identifies the EAS by applying ESCP policies (e.g., based only on the location of the terminal device).

[0343] In some embodiments, the EES can select one or more EASs according to at least one of the following information: location information of the terminal device, specific service information of the terminal device, ECSP policy and EAS discovery filtering parameters. The filtering parameters can include one or more of the following information: application client type, application server type and application client latency requirement information.

[0344] S103, the EES sends an EAS discovery response message to the EEC.

[0345] In some embodiments, the EES cannot determine the EAS information through the input in the EAS discovery request message, the terminal device specific service information on the EES or the ESCP policy, the EES rejects the service provision request and gives the corresponding failure reason.

[0346] For example, the terminal device is located outside the geographical or topological service area of the EAS.

[0347] In some embodiments, the EES processes the request successfully, and the EAS discovery response message contains the discovered EAS information and its endpoint information.

[0348] The information that can be contained in the EAS response message is shown in Table 4.

[0349] Table 4 Information contained in the EAS response message

[0350]

[0351] In order to perform the discovery process of the EAS, it is necessary to determine the EES first, and the determination of the EES is achieved through the discovery process of the EES. The discovery process of the EES is described below in combination with Figure 3 the discovery process of the EES.

[0352] Before performing the EES discovery process, the ECS will configure the available edge computing service information related to the EEC according to the location, service demand, service preference and connectivity of the terminal device, etc., for the EEC to discover the related available EES.

[0353] S201, the EEC sends a service provision request message to the ECS.

[0354] The service provision request message is used to request the ECS to trigger the EES discovery, and the service provision request message includes the terminal device identifier, such as GPSI, connection information, location of the terminal device and AC profile information.

[0355] Specifically, the information that can be contained in the service provision request message is shown in Table 5.

[0356] Table 5 Information contained in the service providing request message

[0357]

[0358] S202, the ECS processes the request information.

[0359] After the ECS receives the request information, authentication and authorization are performed.

[0360] S203, the ECS sends a service providing response message to the EEC.

[0361] In some embodiments, the ECS matches the EES registered on the ECS according to the AC configuration file provided by the EEC and the terminal device location information. If the ECS cannot determine the EES information according to the request message of the EEC, the ECS rejects the service providing request and gives the reason for failure.

[0362] In some embodiments, the ECS successfully processes the service request, and the ECS sends a service providing response message to the EEC, and provides EDN connection information, a list of EESs satisfying the request information of the EEC, and address identification information of the EESs.

[0363] In some embodiments, the service providing response message contains information as shown in Table 6.

[0364] Table 6 Information contained in the service providing response message

[0365]

[0366]

[0367] The above Figure 2 and Figure 3 explain the discovery process of the EAS and the discovery process of the EES, and the following Figure 4 and Figure 5 explain the method for triggering execution of route influence provided by the embodiments of the application.

[0368] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a method for triggering execution of route influence provided by the application.

[0369] In the embodiments of the application, the EES sends an application function request message to the SMF or NEF of the core network, for requesting execution of route influence.

[0370] S301, the EES sends an application function request message to the core network.

[0371] The application function request message is used to instruct the SMF or NEF to execute route influence.

[0372] Specifically, the EES directly requests the SMF to perform the routing impact, or the EES requests the NEF to perform the routing impact, and the NEF requests the SMF to perform the routing impact for the application client or the terminal device or the application server.

[0373] In some embodiments, the EES sends one application function request message to the SMF or the NEF, and the application function request message includes DNAI information of all EASs that need to perform the routing impact, the DNAI information of the EASs being used to indicate potential locations of the application servers.

[0374] In some other embodiments, the EES sends multiple application function request messages to the SMF or the NEF, and the application function request messages include DNAI information of one or more EASs that need to perform the routing impact, the DNAI information of the EASs being used to indicate potential locations of the application servers.

[0375] In some embodiments, the application function request message can include information of one or more EASs, which is used to request the SMF or the NEF of the core network to perform the routing impact for the one or more EASs.

[0376] Optionally, the information of the one or more EASs is contained in an EAS list.

[0377] In some embodiments, the application function request message includes information of a target EAS, which is used to request the SMF or the NEF of the core network to perform the routing impact for the target EAS.

[0378] The target EAS is an EAS selected from one or more candidate EASs in an EAS discovery process, and the target EAS can also be referred to as a selected EAS. The process of selecting the target EAS from the candidate EASs can be performed by the EES, or can be performed by the EEC, or can be performed by the application client.

[0379] Optionally, the target EAS is determined by the application client, and the application client sends the target EAS to the EEC after selecting the target EAS, and the EEC reports the received target EAS to the EES.

[0380] Optionally, the target EAS is determined by the EEC, and the EEC reports the target EAS to the EES after selecting the target EAS.

[0381] The application function request message further includes one or more of the following information: a user equipment identity (UE ID), EAS information (EAS or an EAS list), subscription type information, and an application function transaction identifier route influence, the subscription type being early notification or late notification.

[0382] S302, the SMF sends a target DNAI to the EES.

[0383] Specifically, the SMF or NEF of the core network can send one or more of the following information to the EES by sending Nsmf_EventExposure_Notify: a target DNAI, an application function transaction identifier, an EAS identifier, and the like, the target DNAI being a DNAI preferred for accessing an EAS.

[0384] By receiving the Nsmf_EventExposure_Notify message, the EES can determine that the target DNAI is a DNAI with optimized user plane information of the UE-EAS of the EAS.

[0385] In some embodiments, the SMF or NEF selects a target DNAI for one or more EASs respectively, and performs route influence on the target DNAI, so that the terminal device has an optimized user plane path to the target DNAI.

[0386] S303, performing insertion, deletion, and modification operations of the UPF.

[0387] Specifically, the SMF of the core network performs insertion, deletion, and modification operations of the UPF.

[0388] By performing insertion, deletion, and modification operations of the UPF by the SMF, that is, performing route influence, the terminal device can have an optimized user plane path to the target DNAI.

[0389] In some embodiments, the terminal device already has an optimized user plane path to the target DNAI, and the SMF does not need to perform insertion, deletion, or modification operations of the user plane network element. That is, in this case, the SMF or NEF can not perform route influence.

[0390] Optionally, the SMF or NEF can first perform route influence on the target DNAI and then send the target DNAI to the EES, that is, S303 can be performed before S302.

[0391] Figure 5Another method for performing route influence provided by the embodiments of the present application is shown in the following.

[0392] In the embodiments of the present application, the target EAS sends an application function request message to the SMF or NEF of the core network, for requesting to perform route influence.

[0393] S401, the EAS sends an application function request message to the core network.

[0394] The application function request message is used to request the SMF or NEF to perform route influence for the terminal device or application client or application server.

[0395] Specifically, the EAS directly requests the SMF to perform route influence, or the EAS requests the NEF to perform route influence, and the NEF requests the SMF to perform route influence for the application client or terminal device or application server.

[0396] In some embodiments, the application function request message sent by the EAS can include one or more DNAI information for accessing the EAS, and the DNAI information of the EAS is used to indicate the potential location of the application server.

[0397] In another embodiment, the route influence application function request message sent by the EAS can include one or more of the following information: UE ID, EAS information, subscription type information, and application function service identifier, and the subscription type can be early notification or late notification.

[0398] Optionally, when the target EAS has the DNAI with the optimized user plane path, the target EAS does not need to send the execution route influence request message to the SMF or NEF.

[0399] S402, the core network sends the target DNAI to the EAS.

[0400] The SMF or NEF can send one or more of the following information to the EAS by sending the Nsmf_EventExposure_Notify message: target DNAI, application function service identifier, or EAS identifier, and the target DNAI is the DNAI preferred for accessing the EAS.

[0401] In some embodiments, the SMF or NEF performs route influence for the target DNAI, so that the terminal device has an optimized user plane path to the target DNAI.

[0402] In some embodiments, the SMF or NEF determines that the target DNAI has an optimized user plane path, and does not need to perform route influence for the target DNAI.

[0403] S403, the insertion, deletion and modification operations of the UPF are performed.

[0404] Specifically, the SMF of the core network performs the insertion, deletion and modification operations of the UPF.

[0405] By performing the insertion, deletion and modification operations of the UPF and other operations by the SMF, that is, performing the route influence, the target DNAI can be configured with the optimized user plane path.

[0406] In some embodiments, the terminal device to the target DNAI already has an optimized user plane path, and the SMF does not need to perform the insertion, deletion or modification operations of the user plane network element. That is, in this case, the SMF or NEF can not perform the route influence.

[0407] Optionally, the SMF or NEF can first perform the route influence for the target DNAI and then send the target DNAI to the EAS, that is, S403 can be performed before S402.

[0408] The above describes the method for performing the route influence provided by the present application in combination with Figure 4 and Figure 5 The method for performing the route influence provided by the present application is described in detail below. Figures 6 to 15 The method for requesting the application function provided by the present application is described in detail below.

[0409] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the method for requesting the application function provided by the present application.

[0410] S501, the application client determines whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or perform the route influence in advance.

[0411] Pre-implementation refers to implementation before the application client is started or before the application client has data interaction with the application server. Pre-implementation can also be referred to as implementation, early implementation, prior implementation and immediate implementation.

[0412] The application server discovery process is performed by the enabling server, and the route influence process is performed by the SMF or NEF of the core network. Here, implementation can be understood as triggering implementation. Pre-implementation of the application server discovery and / or the route influence can prepare for the application client to obtain the application service, and the application client can quickly obtain the application service when the application client is started.

[0413] The application client can determine whether to perform the application server discovery and / or the routing influence in advance according to the application information, which includes one or more of the application type, the application server type, or the latency requirement. When the enabling client obtains the information of the application server discovered by the enabling server through the application server discovery process, the enabling client can send a first response message to the application client, which can include the information of one or more application servers. The one or more application servers can be the application servers that have triggered the execution of the routing influence, or can also be the application servers that have not triggered the execution of the routing influence.

[0414] Optionally, the one or more application servers can be the application servers that have completed the routing influence, or can also be the application servers that have not completed the routing influence.

[0415] It should be understood that the application server that has not completed the routing influence herein can refer to a case where the enabling server has requested the SMF or the NEF of the core network to perform the routing influence, and has received the confirmation message sent by the SMF or the NEF, and the routing influence can be performed for the application server, but the routing influence has not been completed. It can also refer to a case where the enabling server has not requested the SMF or the NEF to perform the routing influence.

[0416] In some embodiments, the first response message can also be used to indicate whether the one or more application servers that are returned to the application client trigger the execution of the routing influence.

[0417] Further, in some embodiments, the first response message can also be used to indicate whether the one or more application servers that are returned to the application client complete the routing influence.

[0418] In one embodiment, the first response message indicates that the one or more application servers have not completed the routing influence, and the application client determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the application information.

[0419] In some embodiments, the application client determines to perform the routing influence in advance, and the application client can request the enabling client to perform the routing influence for the selected application server, and then the enabling client requests the enabling server to trigger the execution of the routing influence, and the enabling server sends an application function request message to the SMF or the NEF, so as to trigger the execution of the routing influence.

[0420] In some embodiments, after the enabling server receives the message of the enabling client requesting to perform the routing influence, the enabling server sends a message of performing the routing influence to the selected application server, and then the selected application server sends an application function request message to the SMF or the NEF, so as to trigger the execution of the routing influence.

[0421] In some embodiments, the application client determines whether to perform the route influence in advance, and the application client can send a second request message to the selected application server in advance; when it is determined that the route influence is not performed in advance, the application client does not send the second request message to the selected application server in advance, and the second request message is used to request the selected application server to perform the route influence.

[0422] The selected server refers to one or more application servers selected from one or more candidate application servers discovered through an application server discovery process, and the selection process can be performed by the application client or the enabling client or the enabling server.

[0423] In some embodiments, the selected application server already has an optimized user plane path, and in this case, the SMF or NEF does not need to perform the route influence for the selected application server, i.e., does not need to perform the insertion, deletion or modification of the UPF network element of the selected application server, or other user plane path modification operations.

[0424] In some embodiments, the selected application server does not have an optimized user plane path, and can request the SMF or NEF to perform the route influence for the selected application server. Here, performing the route influence for the selected application server can also be understood as performing the route influence for the selected application client or the selected terminal device.

[0425] S502, the application client sends a first request message to the enabling client.

[0426] In some embodiments, the first request message includes application information and / or indication information, the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, server type or latency requirement, and the indication information includes an in-advance application server discovery indication and / or an in-advance route influence indication.

[0427] The latency requirement can be a first packet latency requirement or an application client latency requirement or an application server latency requirement required by the application client. Here, the first packet refers to the first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the communication process between the application client and the application server, i.e., the first data packet in the data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0428] The first packet latency requirement can be used to indicate the overall latency requirement or the average latency requirement of all data packets in the data interaction process between the application client and the application server.

[0429] Alternatively, the time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of the time delay requirement of the application client in the data interaction process with the application server, such as the arithmetic mean or geometric mean of the time delay requirement of all data packets in the first interaction process of the application client with the application server.

[0430] When the application client determines not to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or not to perform the routing influence in advance, the application client does not send the first request message to the enabling client.

[0431] In some embodiments, the application client determines to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or to perform the routing influence in advance, and the application client sends the first request message to the enabling client. In some embodiments, the first request message sent by the application client does not include application information or indication information, so that the enabling client and the enabling server cannot obtain the second determination basis or the first determination basis. After obtaining the candidate application server information, the enabling client feeds back the candidate server information to the application client.

[0432] The application server can determine whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the application information. In the case of needing to perform the routing influence in advance, the application client sends an application function request message to the selected application server after selecting the application server, so as to request the SMF or NEF to perform the routing influence for the application server and / or the application client and / or the terminal device. Alternatively, the application client can send a message to the enabling client in advance to request to perform the routing influence, so that the enabling client requests the enabling server to perform the routing influence, so that the enabling server requests the selected application server to perform the routing influence or directly requests the SMF or NEF to perform the routing influence for the selected application server.

[0433] S503, the enabling client determines whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or to perform the routing influence in advance according to the second determination information.

[0434] The enabling client can obtain the second determination information by receiving the first request message of the application client. The second determination information can also be configured to the enabling client in a preconfigured manner, or obtained by the enabling client in other more ways.

[0435] In some embodiments, the second determination information includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, time delay requirement, etc.

[0436] The latency requirement can be a latency requirement of a first packet or a latency requirement of the application client or a latency requirement of the application server required by the application client. Here, the first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in a process of communication between the application client and the application server, i.e., a first data packet in data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0437] The latency requirement of the first packet can be used to indicate a latency requirement of an overall or average of all data packets in a process of data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0438] Alternatively, the latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of a latency requirement of a specific time period or part or all of the data packets in a process of data interaction between the application client and the application server. For example, an arithmetic mean or geometric mean of latency requirements of all data packets in a first interaction process between the application client and the application server.

[0439] In some embodiments, the second decision information includes indication information used to indicate that the application server discovery is performed in advance and / or the routing influence is performed in advance.

[0440] In some embodiments, the second decision information includes application information and indication information.

[0441] When the one or more candidate application server information enabling the server feedback is obtained, the enabling client can feed back the one or more candidate application server information to the application client. The enabling client can also feed back indication information of whether the candidate application server completes the routing influence to the application client. In some embodiments, the enabling client feeds back application server information of the application server that has completed the routing influence in the candidate application server to the application client.

[0442] S504, the enabling client sends an application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0443] When the enabling client determines not to perform the routing influence in advance according to the application type in the first request message, the enabling client does not pre-send the application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0444] When the enabling client determines not to perform the routing influence in advance according to the latency requirement in the first request message, the enabling client does not pre-send the application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0445] When the enabling client determines not to perform the routing influence in advance according to the application server type in the first request message, the enabling client does not pre-send the application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0446] In some embodiments, the enabling client determines, according to the application type in the first request message, to preform application server discovery and / or preform routing influence, and the enabling client sends an application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0447] In some embodiments, the enabling client determines, according to the latency requirement in the first request message, to preform application server discovery and / or preform routing influence, and the enabling client pre-sends an application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0448] In some embodiments, the enabling client determines, according to the application server type in the first request message, to preform application server discovery and / or preform routing influence, and the enabling client pre-sends an application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0449] In some embodiments, the enabling client determines, according to the indication information in the first request message, to preform application server discovery and / or preform routing influence, and the enabling client pre-sends an application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

[0450] In some embodiments, the enabling client determines, according to the application information and the indication information in the first request message, whether to preform application server discovery and / or preform routing influence, and determines whether to pre-sends an application server discovery request message.

[0451] In some embodiments, the enabling client determines, according to the second determination information, to preform routing influence, and according to the judgment result of preforming routing influence, the enabling client determines to preform application server discovery.

[0452] When the enabling client determines, according to the second determination information, not to preform routing influence, and according to the judgment result of not preforming routing influence, the enabling client determines not to pre-sends an application server discovery request message to perform application server discovery.

[0453] S505, the enabling server determines, according to the first determination information, whether to preform routing influence.

[0454] The first determination information can be obtained by receiving a message sent by the enabling client, or can be obtained by other manners such as pre-configuration.

[0455] In some embodiments, the first determination information includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, latency requirement, etc.

[0456] In some embodiments, the first determination information includes indication information, and the indication information includes pre-performing application server discovery indication and / or pre-performing routing influence indication.

[0457] In some embodiments, the first determining information includes application information and indication information.

[0458] When the enabling server determines not to perform the route impact in advance according to the application type in the application server discovery request message, the enabling server does not send the application function request message.

[0459] When the enabling server determines not to perform the route impact in advance according to the time delay requirement in the application server discovery request message, the enabling server does not send the application function request message.

[0460] When the enabling server determines not to perform the route impact in advance according to the application server type in the application server discovery request message, the enabling server does not send the application function request message.

[0461] In some embodiments, the enabling server determines to perform the route impact in advance according to the application type in the application server discovery request message, and the enabling server sends the application function request message.

[0462] In some embodiments, the enabling server determines to perform the route impact in advance according to the time delay requirement in the application server discovery request message, and the enabling server sends the application function request message.

[0463] In some embodiments, the enabling server determines to perform the route impact in advance according to the application server type in the application server discovery request message, and the enabling server does not send the application function request message.

[0464] In some embodiments, the enabling server determines to perform the route impact in advance according to the indication information in the application server discovery request message, and the enabling server sends the application function request message.

[0465] The time delay requirement can be a time delay requirement of a first packet or a time delay requirement of an application client or a time delay requirement of an application server required by the application client. Here, the first packet refers to a first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the process of communication between the application client and the application server, i.e., a first data packet in the data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0466] The time delay requirement of the first packet can be used to indicate a whole time delay requirement or an average time delay requirement of all data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0467] Alternatively, the time delay requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of the time delay requirement of a specific time period or part or all of the data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server, for example, an arithmetic mean or a geometric mean of the time delay requirement of all data packets in the first interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0468] In some embodiments, the enabling server determines whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information and the indication information in the application server discovery request message, so as to determine whether to send the application function request message.

[0469] The enabling server determines one or more candidate application servers after performing the application server discovery process. The enabling server can request the SMF or the NEF to perform the route influence for the one or more candidate application servers in advance. The enabling server can also directly feed back the information of the one or more candidate application servers to the enabling client. Alternatively, the enabling server can select a selected application server from the candidate application servers and send a message to the selected application server, requesting the selected application server to trigger the execution of the route influence.

[0470] After determining the information of the selected application server, the enabling server requests the SMF or the NEF to perform the route influence for the selected application server, or the enabling server can also directly request the selected application server to trigger the execution of the route influence for the selected application server.

[0471] The enabling server can send the information of one or more candidate application servers to the enabling client through the discovery response message. The one or more candidate application servers can be the application servers that have triggered the execution of the route influence or the application servers that have not triggered the execution of the route influence. The discovery response message can also include the indication information of whether the one or more candidate application servers have triggered the execution of the route influence.

[0472] It should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the AC determines whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance, which can be performed independently or jointly with the EEC determining whether to perform the application server discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance and the EES determining whether to perform the route influence in advance. That is, at least one of S501, S503 or S505 is performed.

[0473] It should be noted that, in addition to determining whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the first determination information, the enabling server can also determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to any of the following manners:

[0474] 1. The enabling server determines whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the received reported information of the selected application server (such as the type of the application server) or according to the reported event of the reported information of the selected application server.

[0475] 2. The enabling client reports the indication information of the application client to the enabling server, i.e., the indication information of the application client that will transmit data to the application server, and the enabling server determines whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the reported event.

[0476] 3. The enabling client reports a request message of pre-executing route influence to the enabling server, and the enabling server determines whether to pre-execute route influence according to the reported event.

[0477] Figure 7 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a method for requesting application function provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0478] In the embodiment of the present application, the EEC determines whether to trigger EAS discovery in advance according to application information, and the EES determines whether to immediately execute route influence after receiving the EAS discovery request information of the EEC.

[0479] S601, the EAS sends an EAS registration request message to the EES.

[0480] The registration request message is used to request registration of the EAS on the EES, and the registration request message can include an EAS profile, which includes a DNAI list. The terminal device or application client can access the EAS through the DNAI in the DNAI list to obtain the application service provided by the EAS.

[0481] In some embodiments, the EAS sends an EAS registration update request message to the EES, and the EAS registration update request message is used to request update of the registration information of the EAS which has been registered on the EES.

[0482] In some embodiments, the DNAI information of the EAS can be directly included in the registration request message.

[0483] It should be understood that the EES can also obtain the related information (such as the DNAI information of the EAS) of the EAS through pre-configuration. When the EES obtains the related information of the EAS through pre-configuration, the EAS can no longer send the EAS registration request to the EES, that is, S601 and S602 can no longer be executed.

[0484] S602, the EES sends an EAS registration response message to the EAS.

[0485] The EAS registration response message is used to indicate whether the registration of the EAS is successful. In the case that the EES receives the registration update request message sent by the EAS, the EES sends an EAS registration update response message to the EAS.

[0486] When the registration of the EAS is successful, the registration response message can include the ID of the EAS registration, the time of expiration of the EAS registration, etc. When the registration of the EAS fails, the registration response message can include the cause information of the failure of the EAS registration, etc.

[0487] It should be understood that S601 and S602 can not be performed when the EES acquires the relevant information of the EAS in a preconfigured manner.

[0488] S603, the EEC determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance.

[0489] Performing EAS discovery is to determine an EAS suitable for providing application services for the application client and an access manner of the EAS. Performing EAS discovery in advance refers to performing EAS discovery before the application client is started or before the application client has data interaction with the EAS, and performing in advance can also be referred to as performing in advance or performing immediately.

[0490] The EAS suitable for providing application services for the application client determined through the EAS discovery process can be referred to as a candidate EAS, and a specific EAS discovery process can refer to the related description of Figure 2 .

[0491] In the embodiment of the application, the EEC determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance according to application information, wherein the application information includes one or more of the following information: application client type (or application type), application server type (or server type), or latency requirement of the application client (or latency requirement).

[0492] The latency requirement can be a latency requirement of a first packet, or a latency requirement of the application client, or a latency requirement of the application server required by the application client. Here, the first packet refers to the first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the communication process of the application client and the application server, that is, the first data packet in the data interaction of the application client and the application server.

[0493] The latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate the overall latency requirement or the average latency requirement of all data packets in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0494] Alternatively, the latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate a characteristic value of the latency requirement of a specific time period or part or all of the data packets in the data interaction process of the application client and the application server, for example, an arithmetic mean or a geometric mean of the latency requirement of all data packets in the first interaction process of the application client and the application server.

[0495] In some embodiments, the EEC determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the type of the application client.

[0496] In one embodiment, the EEC determines that the application client is an application client with low latency requirement according to the type of the application client, and the EEC determines not to perform EAS discovery in advance.

[0497] In another embodiment, the EEC determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the type of the application client, and the EEC determines that the application client is an application client with high latency requirement.

[0498] For example, the type of the application client is a service of ultra reliable low latency communication (URLLC) type, or the application client is a game or other application with high latency requirement, and the EEC performs the EAS discovery in advance for the application client.

[0499] In some embodiments, the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the latency requirement information of the application client, and the latency requirement can also be referred to as latency requirement.

[0500] In one embodiment, the EEC determines that the application client is an application client with low latency requirement according to the latency requirement of the application client, and the EEC determines not to perform the EAS discovery in advance.

[0501] In another embodiment, the EEC determines that the application client is an application client with high latency requirement according to the latency requirement of the application client, and the EEC determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance.

[0502] For example, the EEC saves a preset latency threshold, and after receiving the request message sent by the application client, the EEC obtains the latency requirement of the application client. When the latency requirement is less than the latency threshold, the EEC determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance for the application client. When the latency requirement is greater than the latency threshold, the EEC determines not to perform the EAS discovery in advance for the application client.

[0503] In some embodiments, the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the type of the application server, and the application server can belong to an expected application server type or a basic application server type.

[0504] The expected application server can also be referred to as ideal application server, which means that the key performance indicators of the application server can provide complete application services for the application client. The basic application server can also be referred to as basic application server or minimum application server, which means that the key performance indicators of the application server can only maintain the basic application services of the application client.

[0505] The type of the application server can be distinguished according to a service key performance indicator of the application server, which can include connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, and storage resources. In determining which type the application server belongs to, one or more parameters in the aforementioned service key performance indicators can be used.

[0506] In one embodiment, the EEC determines that the application server is a basic application server according to the connection bandwidth in the service key performance indicator of the application server, and determines not to perform application server discovery in advance according to the type of the application server.

[0507] In one embodiment, the EEC determines that the application server is an expected application server according to the response time, availability, and memory resources in the service key performance indicator of the application server, and determines to perform application server discovery in advance according to the type of the application server.

[0508] In some embodiments, the type of the application server can also be determined according to an application client type (AC type) alone.

[0509] The EEC can also determine whether to perform route influence in advance according to the application information, and the determination method is similar to the above-mentioned method of determining whether to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the application information. For details, please refer to the above.

[0510] Alternatively, the EEC determines to perform route influence in advance according to the application information, and determines to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the judgment result of performing route influence in advance.

[0511] One or more of the application type, the application server type, or the latency requirement in the application information can be configured to the EEC in a pre-configuration manner, sent to the EEC by the application client in a message sending manner, or obtained by the EEC in other more ways. The application does not limit the way in which the EEC obtains the information that can be contained in the application information.

[0512] The EEC first determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance before sending a request to perform EAS discovery request message, and the basis for the determination is the application client itself attribute related information. The execution of the determination can make the EEC be able to provide different services for the application client according to the difference of the application client, which is beneficial to improve the service efficiency of the terminal device, beneficial to reasonably allocate the resources of the terminal device, and beneficial to improve the application use experience of the user.

[0513] Optionally, the EEC determines not to perform EAS discovery in advance for the application client according to the result of the determination that the same application client does not perform EAS discovery in advance.

[0514] Optionally, the EEC determines not to perform EAS discovery in advance for the application client according to the result of the determination that the same application client does not perform routing influence in advance.

[0515] When it is determined not to perform EAS discovery in advance, S604 to S607 can no longer be executed. Optionally, the EEC saves the result of the determination not to perform EAS discovery in advance.

[0516] Optionally, the EEC can send indication information that EAS discovery is not performed in advance to the application client, which can be referred to in detail in the description of the embodiments shown in the following Figure 15

[0517] S604, the EEC pre-sends an EAS discovery request message to the EES.

[0518] The EAS discovery request message is used to request discovery of one or more EASs that provide application services for the application client, and the discovery request can also be carried in an EAS discovery subscription request message or an EAS discovery subscription update request message, etc. The specific bearing message is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0519] Pre-sending can also be referred to as sending, sending in advance, and sending immediately, etc., which means sending the EAS discovery request message before the application client is started or before the application client has data interaction with the EAS.

[0520] The EAS discovery request message further includes one or more of the following information: EAS discovery filtering parameters, terminal device location information, terminal device specific service information, and ECSP policy. The EES can select candidate EASs according to at least one of the above information in the EAS discovery request message after receiving the EAS discovery request message.

[0521] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message includes the application client type.

[0522] In one embodiment, the EAS discovery request message includes an application client configuration file, and the application client configuration file includes the application client type.

[0523] In one embodiment, the EAS discovery request message includes EAS discovery filtering parameters, and the application client configuration file in the EAS discovery filtering parameters includes the application client type.

[0524] In other embodiments, the EAS discovery request message includes information about the application client's requirement for latency.​

[0525] In one embodiment, a delay requirement related information element is added in the EAS discovery request message, which is used to store the delay requirement of the application client.

[0526] Exemplarily,

[0527] Information element name: delay requirement (delay requirement);

[0528] Information element status: optional or mandatory;

[0529] Information element description: less than or equal to 0.1 ms.

[0530] In another embodiment, the delay requirement of the application client is stored in the existing information element in the EAS discovery request message.

[0531] Exemplarily, the delay requirement can be carried in the EAS discovery filter parameter, or in the application client characteristic list, or in the application client configuration file in the application client characteristic list, or in the EAS characteristic list, or in the EAS configuration file in the EAS characteristic list.

[0532] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message contains the application server type.

[0533] In one embodiment, the EAS discovery request message contains one or more service key performance indicators that can determine the application server type.

[0534] Exemplarily, the EAS discovery request message contains one or more of the service key performance indicators of the application server: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, or storage resources. S605, the EES determines whether to perform the routing impact in advance.

[0535] Immediate execution can also be referred to as execution, early execution or pre-execution. Since the routing impact is performed by the SMF or the NEF, here execution can be understood as triggering execution.

[0536] In some embodiments, the EES determines whether to perform the routing impact immediately according to one or more of the application client type, the application server type, or the information of the delay requirement of the application client.

[0537] In one embodiment, the EES determines that the application client is of a type with high delay requirement according to the application client type, and determines to perform the routing impact in advance.

[0538] In another embodiment, the EES determines, according to the application client type, that the application client is of a type of application client with low latency requirement, and determines not to perform the route impact in advance.

[0539] Illustratively, the EES stores a list of different application client types, in which the application client type is associated with whether to perform the route impact in advance, and the EES can determine whether to perform the route impact in advance for different types of application clients according to the list.

[0540] In one embodiment, the EES determines, according to the application server type, that the application server is of a type of application server with low latency requirement, and determines not to perform the route impact in advance according to the determination result.

[0541] In another embodiment, the EES determines, according to the application server type, that the application server is of a type of application server with high latency requirement, and determines to perform the route impact in advance according to the determination result.

[0542] Illustratively, the EES determines, according to the response time of the service key performance indicator, that the application server is of a type of application server with low latency requirement, and determines not to perform the route impact in advance.

[0543] In one embodiment, the EES determines, according to the latency requirement of the application client, that the application client has high latency requirement, and determines to perform the route impact in advance.

[0544] In another embodiment, the EES determines, according to the latency requirement of the application client, that the application client has low latency requirement, and determines not to perform the route impact in advance.

[0545] Illustratively, the EES stores a preset latency threshold, and after receiving the request message sent by the EEC, the EES obtains the latency requirement of the application client, and when the latency requirement is less than the latency threshold, the EES determines to perform the route impact in advance for the application client, and when the latency requirement is greater than the latency threshold, the EES determines not to perform the route impact in advance for the application client.

[0546] In some embodiments, after receiving the EAS discovery request message, the EES determines that the EAS discovery request message is a pre-performed EAS discovery request, and determines, according to the determination result, to perform the route impact in advance for the application client corresponding to the EAS discovery request message or the terminal device corresponding to the EAS discovery request message.

[0547] Optionally, the EES can also determine whether to perform the route impact in advance according to the method described in S505, and the detailed determination method can refer to S505, which will not be described here for brevity.

[0548] The EES can performFigure 2 The EAS discovery procedure shown determines one or more candidate EASs, which can constitute a candidate EAS list.

[0549] In some embodiments, the EES can select one or more EASs from the candidate EAS list and request the SMF or NEF to perform routing influence for the one or more EASs.

[0550] Before sending the message triggering the execution of routing influence, the EES first determines whether the application client preforms routing influence according to the application client's own attribute-related information. This determination is conducive to the edge data network providing services according to the type of the served application client, the latency requirement, and the like, improving the service efficiency and quality of the edge data network, improving the efficiency of the terminal device in obtaining application services, and improving the user experience of the terminal device.

[0551] Optionally, the EES determines not to preform routing influence for the application client according to the determination result that the same application client does not preform routing influence.

[0552] When it is determined not to preform routing influence, S606 and S607 can no longer be executed. Optionally, the EES saves the determination result of not preforming routing influence.

[0553] Optionally, the EES can send indication information of not preforming routing influence to the EEC. This part of content can be referred to in detail in the description of the embodiments shown below. Figure 14 The embodiments shown are described below, and no detailed introduction is given here.

[0554] S606, the EES triggers the execution of routing influence.

[0555] The process in which the EES triggers the execution of routing influence can be specifically referred to in the description of the embodiments shown below, and no detailed introduction is given here. Figure 4 The embodiments shown are described below, and no detailed introduction is given here.

[0556] S607, the EES sends an EAS discovery response message to the EEC.

[0557] The EAS discovery response message is used to return the information of one or more candidate EASs to the EEC. The information of the one or more EASs can also be sent through an EAS discovery subscription response message or an EAS discovery subscription update response message or an EAS discovery notification message, and the specific carrying message is not limited in the present application.

[0558] Exemplarily, when the one or more discovered EASs meet the application service requirement of the application client, the EES sends an EAS discovery notification message to the EEC, and the EAS discovery notification message includes the information of one or more EASs meeting the requirement.

[0559] In some embodiments, the plurality of candidate EASs constitute a candidate EAS list, and the EAS discovery response message includes the candidate EAS list.

[0560] In some embodiments, the EES can send an EAS discovery response message to the EEC, and the EAS discovery response message further contains indication information indicating whether the execution of the routing influence has been requested from the SMF or the NEF. If the EES has requested the execution of the routing influence before sending the EAS discovery response message, the indication information contained in the EAS discovery response message indicates that the execution of the routing influence has been requested from the SMF or the NEF; if the EES has not requested the execution of the routing influence before sending the EAS discovery response message, the indication information contained in the EAS discovery response message indicates that the execution of the routing influence has not been requested from the SMF or the NEF.

[0561] The EES judges whether the path optimization of the EAS is completed, and the EES returns the EAS with the optimized user plane path to the EEC, so that the EEC can further return the EAS with the optimized user plane path to the application client.

[0562] Specifically, the EES returns the EAS information with the optimized user plane path and / or the DNAI information of the EAS to the EEC. The application client acquires the EAS with the optimized user plane path, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client in acquiring the application service provided by the application server and improve the application experience of the user of the terminal device.

[0563] In other embodiments, further, the EAS discovery response message further includes indication information indicating whether the EAS has the optimized user plane path, or includes indication information indicating whether the routing influence of the EAS is completed, or includes indication information indicating whether the user plane path of the EAS is optimized.

[0564] Specifically, the EES returns the EAS information and the DNAI information to the EEC, and the DNAI information includes one or more DNAIs and indication information indicating whether the one or more DNAIs have the optimized user plane path.

[0565] Exemplarily, the one or more DNAIs can be in the form of a DNAI list, and the indication information can be contained in the DNAI list.

[0566] After the application client acquires the indication information indicating whether the EAS has the optimized user plane path, the application client can select the EAS with the optimized user plane path to connect and acquire the application service according to the indication information, and the implementation of the embodiments of the application is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client in acquiring the application service.

[0567] In the embodiments of the present application, the EEC determines whether to initiate the EAS discovery process in advance according to one or more of the type of the application client, the requirement of the application client for the delay, and the type of the application server. Further, the EES determines whether to trigger the route influence process immediately after receiving the EAS discovery request message sent by the EEC, so that the SMF or the NEF performs the route influence on the candidate EAS to make the candidate EAS have the DNAI of the optimized path, or determines that the candidate EAS already has the DNAI of the optimized path and thus does not need to perform the route influence on the EAS.

[0568] Figure 8 FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of a method for requesting an application function provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0569] In the embodiments of the present application, the EEC determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the indication information of the application client, and the EES determines to perform the route influence in advance for the application client according to the indication information of the EEC.

[0570] In the embodiments of the present application, the EEC determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the indication information of the application client, and the EES determines to perform the route influence in advance for the application client according to the indication information of the EEC.

[0571] The EAS for providing the application service has been registered on the EES and saved on the EES, or the related information (such as the DNAI information) of the EAS has been pre-configured on the EES.

[0572] The indication information can include the indication of performing the EAS discovery in advance and / or the indication of performing the route influence in advance.

[0573] In some embodiments, the indication information indicates to perform the EAS discovery in advance, and the EEC determines to trigger the EAS discovery in advance according to the indication information of performing the EAS discovery in advance.

[0574] In another embodiment, the indication information indicates to perform the route influence in advance, and the EEC determines to trigger the EAS discovery in advance according to the indication information of performing the route influence in advance.

[0575] In some embodiments, the EEC obtains the indication information of the application client by receiving the message (such as the message for requesting to discover the EAS) sent by the application client to the EEC.

[0576] In another embodiment, the EEC obtains the indication information of the application client by other manners.

[0577] For example, the application client can send the above indication information to the enabling client in the process of registering the enabling client, or carry the above indication information in the configuration file of the application client, or carry the above indication information in the request message for requiring the edge computing service sent by the application client to the enabling client.

[0578] The EEC can also determine whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the indication information.

[0579] In some embodiments, the indication information indicates to perform the EAS discovery in advance, and the EEC determines to trigger the route influence in advance according to the indication information indicating to perform the EAS discovery in advance.

[0580] In some other embodiments, the indication information indicates to perform the route influence in advance, and the EEC determines to trigger the route influence in advance according to the indication information indicating to perform the route influence in advance.

[0581] Optionally, the EEC determines to perform the route influence in advance according to the indication information, and determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the determination result of performing the route influence in advance.

[0582] The EEC triggers to perform the EAS discovery immediately in response to the indication information of the application client, which can make the EEC serve application clients in different running states, and is beneficial to improving the overall efficiency of the EEC in serving different application clients and improving the user experience of the terminal device.

[0583] S702, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request message to the EES.

[0584] The EAS discovery request message is used to request to discover one or more EASs to provide application services for the application client. The discovery request can also be implemented by an EAS discovery subscription request message or an EAS discovery subscription update request message, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific bearing message.

[0585] The EAS discovery request message further includes at least one of the following information: EAS discovery filtering parameters, terminal device location information, terminal device specific service information and ECSP policy. The EES can determine the candidate EAS according to at least one information in the EAS discovery request message after receiving the EAS discovery request message.

[0586] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message includes the EAS discovery filtering parameters and the indication information indicating to perform the route influence in advance.

[0587] In one embodiment, a time delay requirement related information element is added in the EAS discovery request message, and the information element is used to store the indication information.

[0588] Exemplarily,

[0589] Information element name: indication information (instructions);

[0590] Information element status: optional or mandatory;

[0591] Information Element Description: Pre-perform EAS discovery and / or pre-perform routing impact.

[0592] In another embodiment, the existing information element is used to store the indication information in the EAS discovery request message.

[0593] Exemplarily, the indication information can be carried in the EAS discovery filter parameter, or in the application client characteristic list, or in the application client profile in the application client characteristic list, or in the EAS characteristic list, or in the EAS profile in the EAS characteristic list.

[0594] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message comprises the EAS discovery filter parameter and the indication information indicating pre-perform EAS discovery.

[0595] In some other embodiments, the EAS discovery request message comprises the EAS discovery filter parameter, the indication information indicating pre-perform routing impact, and the indication information indicating pre-perform EAS discovery.

[0596] In S703, the EES determines to perform the routing impact immediately.

[0597] The EES can select one or more candidate EASs, which can be selected according to the EAS discovery filter parameter, and / or the location information of the terminal device, and / or the specific service information of the terminal device, and / or the ECSP policy. The specific EAS discovery procedure can refer to the related description in Figure 2 , which will not be described here again.

[0598] In some embodiments, the EES determines to perform the routing impact immediately according to the indication information indicating pre-perform routing impact contained in the EAS discovery request message.

[0599] In some other embodiments, the EES determines to perform the routing impact immediately according to the indication information indicating pre-perform EAS discovery contained in the EAS discovery request message.

[0600] In yet some other embodiments, the EAS discovery request message contains the indication information indicating pre-perform EAS discovery and the indication information indicating pre-perform routing impact, and the EES determines to perform the routing impact according to the indication information indicating pre-perform EAS discovery or the indication information indicating pre-perform routing impact after receiving the request message.

[0601] In yet some other embodiments, the EES determines that the EAS discovery request message is a request message for pre-perform EAS discovery according to the EAS discovery request message, and determines to perform the routing impact according to the determination result.

[0602] According to the indication information of the application client, the immediate execution of the routing influence is determined, when the EES provides services for multiple application clients, the request of the application client sending the indication information can be processed preferentially, which is beneficial to improve the service quality of the EES and improve the service efficiency of the edge data network.

[0603] Optionally, the EES can also determine whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the method described in S505. For details, refer to S305, which is not repeated here.

[0604] S704, the EES triggers the execution of the routing influence.

[0605] For details of the process of triggering the EES to execute the routing influence, refer to the related description of the embodiment shown in Figure 4 , which is not repeated here.

[0606] Optionally, the EES can also send indication information to the selected EAS to trigger the execution of the routing influence, which is used to instruct the selected EAS to trigger the execution of the routing influence. For details of the execution of the routing influence triggered by the EAS, refer to the related description of the embodiment shown in Figure 5 . The selected EAS can be determined by the EES, or determined by the EEC and then reported to the EES, or determined by the application client and then reported to the EEC, and then reported to the EES by the EEC.

[0607] S705, the EES sends an EAS discovery response message.

[0608] S705 is similar to S607, for details, refer to S607, which is not repeated here.

[0609] In the embodiment of the application, the EEC determines to initiate the EAS discovery process in advance according to the indication information of the application client, and further, the EES determines to trigger the execution of the routing influence process in advance according to the indication information of the application client, so as to trigger the SMF or NEF to execute the optimization of the EAS user plane path or the SMF or NEF to determine that the EAS already has the optimized path of the DNAI and does not need to execute the routing influence again.

[0610] Figure 9 is another method for requesting an application function provided by the embodiment of the application.

[0611] In the embodiment of the application, the application client determines to trigger the execution of the EAS discovery in advance according to the application information, the application client sends a request message including the application information and the indication information to the EEC, the EEC determines whether to execute the EAS discovery in advance after receiving the request message of the application client, and the EES determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the EAS discovery message of the EEC.

[0612] S801 and S802 are the process of registration of the EAS on the EES, which is similar to S601 and S602, and the details can refer to S601 and S602. For brevity, they are not described here.

[0613] S803, the application client determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance and / or perform route influence in advance.

[0614] In some embodiments, the application client determines to initiate EAS discovery in advance according to the application type of the application client.

[0615] In other embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the application type of the application client.

[0616] In some embodiments, the application client determines to initiate EAS discovery in advance according to the latency requirement of the application client.

[0617] In other embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the latency requirement of the application client.

[0618] The latency requirement can be the latency requirement of the first packet, the latency requirement of the application client, or the latency requirement of the application server required by the application client. Here, the first packet refers to the first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the process of communication between the application client and the application server, that is, the first data packet in the data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0619] The latency requirement of the first packet can be used to indicate the overall latency requirement or the average latency requirement of all data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0620] Alternatively, the latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate the characteristic value of the latency requirement of the data packet within a certain time period or part or all of the data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server. For example, the arithmetic mean or geometric mean of the latency requirement of all data packets in the first interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0621] In some embodiments, the application client determines to initiate EAS discovery in advance according to the application server type of the application client.

[0622] In other embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the application server type of the application client.

[0623] S804, the application client sends a first request message to the EEC.

[0624] The first request message includes application information and indication information, the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, or latency requirement, etc., and the indication information includes a pre-execution EAS discovery indication and / or a pre-execution routing impact indication.

[0625] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message is used to trigger the EEC to perform service provisioning and EAS discovery.

[0626] One or more of the application type, application server type, or latency requirement, etc. in the application information can be configured to the EEC in a preconfigured manner, sent to the EEC by the application client sending a message to the EEC, or obtained by the EEC in other ways. The application does not limit the way the EEC obtains the information that can be included in the application information.

[0627] When one or more of the application information is not included in the first request message, the one or more information not included can be configured to the EEC in a preconfigured manner, so that the EEC can make a comprehensive judgment based on the content of the application information obtained through various channels and the indication information.

[0628] S805, the EEC determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance.

[0629] Performing EAS discovery is to determine the EAS suitable for providing application services for the application client and the access mode of the EAS. Here, performing EAS discovery in advance means performing EAS discovery before the application client starts or before the application client has data interaction with the EAS.

[0630] The EEC determines to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the comprehensive judgment of the application information and the indication information.

[0631] For example, the application type and / or latency requirement in the application information show that the application client does not perform EAS discovery in advance, but the indication information indicates that EAS discovery is performed in advance. At this time, the EEC determines that the application client performs EAS discovery in advance after making independent judgments according to the application information and the indication information respectively.

[0632] Combining the application information and the indication information to comprehensively judge whether to perform EAS discovery in advance is beneficial to improve the adaptability of the EEC in complex service environments (such as different application clients and different service requirements), and is beneficial to improve the quality of services provided by terminal devices for users and improve the user's application service experience.

[0633] Optionally, the EEC determines pre-execution of the routing impact based on the application information and the indication information, and determines pre-execution of the EAS discovery based on a result of the determination of the pre-execution of the routing impact. The EEC can determine the content of the pre-execution of the routing impact, which can be referred to S503, and will not be described here for brevity.

[0634] S806, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request message to the EES.

[0635] The EAS discovery request message includes the application information and / or the indication information.

[0636] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message further includes one or more of the following information: EAS discovery filtering parameters, terminal device location information, terminal device specific service information, or ECSP policy, and the EES can select one or more candidate EASs based on at least one of the above information in the EAS discovery request message after receiving the EAS discovery request message.

[0637] In some embodiments, the EAS discovery request message further includes indication information indicating that the EAS discovery request is a pre-execution EAS discovery request.

[0638] S807, the EES determines whether to trigger execution of the routing impact immediately.

[0639] In some embodiments, the EES determines whether to trigger execution of the routing impact immediately based on the application information and the indication information.

[0640] For example, the application type and / or the latency requirement in the application information indicate that the application client does not pre-execute the routing impact, but the indication information requests pre-execution of the routing impact, and the EES determines that the application client pre-executes the routing impact after determining independently based on the application information and the indication information respectively.

[0641] The EES can select one or more candidate EASs based on one or more of the following information: EAS discovery filtering parameters, terminal device location information, terminal device specific service information, or ECSP policy. The one or more candidate EASs can form a candidate EAS list, and the EES can select one or more EASs from the candidate EAS list to trigger the SMF or the NEF to execute the routing impact for the one or more EASs.

[0642] In some embodiments, the EES receives the application information and the indication information indicating pre-triggering of the EAS discovery, determines not to pre-execute the routing impact for the application client based on the application information, and determines pre-execution of the EAS discovery based on the indication information indicating pre-triggering of the EAS discovery.

[0643] In some embodiments, the EES receives the application information and the indication information of pre-triggering the route influence, and determines to pre-perform the EAS discovery and the route influence according to the indication information of pre-triggering the route influence.

[0644] In combination with the application information and the indication information, the EES comprehensively determines whether to pre-perform the EAS discovery, which is beneficial to improve the adaptability of the EES in a complex service environment (e.g., different application clients and different service requirements), improve the quality of the service provided by the edge data network to the application client, and improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0645] S808, the EES triggers the route influence.

[0646] The process of triggering the route influence by the EES can refer to the embodiments shown in FIG. 8, which will not be described herein. Figure 4

[0647] S809, the EES sends an EAS discovery response message.

[0648] In some embodiments, the EES pre-performs the EAS discovery, and the EAS discovery response message includes information of one or more EASs.

[0649] In some embodiments, the EES pre-performs the EAS discovery and the route influence, and the EAS discovery response message includes information of one or more EASs and / or indication information of having triggered the route influence for the one or more EASs.

[0650] Optionally, the EAS discovery response message can further include indication information of having completed the route influence for the one or more EASs.

[0651] S810, the EEC sends a first response message to the application client.

[0652] The first response message is used to send the candidate EAS information to the application client.

[0653] In some embodiments, the EEC selects an EAS from the candidate EASs and sends the EAS to the application client, and the EEC can optionally carry indication information of having triggered the route influence for the EAS in the EAS information.

[0654] In some embodiments, the EEC selects an EAS from the candidate EASs and sends the EAS to the application client, and the EEC can optionally carry indication information of having completed the route influence for the EAS in the EAS information.

[0655] ​Specifically, the EEC returns the EAS information with optimized user plane path and / or the DNAI information of the EAS to the application client.

[0656] In some embodiments, the EEC does not filter the candidate EAS, and the EEC sends one or more EAS information to the application client through the first response message, and the first response message further includes an indication information indicating whether the EAS completes the routing impact.

[0657] Specifically, the EEC returns the EAS information and the DNAI information to the application client, and the DNAI information includes one or more DNAI and an indication information indicating whether the one or more DNAI has an optimized user plane path.

[0658] For example, the one or more DNAI can be in the form of a DNAI list, and the indication information can also be included in the DNAI list.

[0659] S811, the application client detects whether the returned EAS completes the routing impact.

[0660] In some embodiments, the application client sends the selected EAS to the EEC and requests to obtain the indication information indicating whether the selected EAS completes the routing impact.

[0661] In some embodiments, the first response message includes the indication information indicating whether the candidate EAS completes the routing impact (such as the DNAI information of the EAS), and the application client determines whether the selected EAS completes the routing impact according to the indication information.

[0662] It should be understood that when the application client determines that the returned EAS has completed the routing impact or has an optimized user plane path or the user plane path has been optimized, S812 and S813 do not need to be executed.

[0663] S812, the application client sends a message requesting to perform the routing impact to the EAS.

[0664] In some embodiments, after receiving the EAS discovery response message, the application client detects that the returned EAS does not have an optimized user plane path, and the application client determines to perform the routing impact in advance according to the application type, the latency requirement and the like, and the application client sends a connection request message including the UE ID to the selected EAS before starting, and the EAS triggers to perform the routing impact after receiving the connection request message.

[0665] Since the DNAI for accessing the EAS has been obtained, the application client can directly connect to the EAS and request the EAS to directly trigger the execution of routing effects. When the application client cannot establish a connection with the EEC and cannot trigger the execution of routing effects for the target EAS through the EES, this technical solution provides an alternative way for the application client to obtain application services, which helps improve the stability of the application client obtaining application services.

[0666] In other embodiments, the application client sends a message to the EEC requesting the execution of routing effects.

[0667] The message requesting the execution of routing effects may include application information and / or indication information. Upon receiving this message, the EEC can determine whether to pre-execute routing effects based on the application information and / or indication information. The specific determination process can be found in S503, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be elaborated here.

[0668] Optionally, the message requesting the execution of routing impact may also carry identification information, which is used to identify the target EAS for requesting the execution of routing impact as an EAS discovered by the pre-executed EAS discovery process. After obtaining the identification information, the EEC determines that the target EAS is the one for which the routing impact is pre-triggered.

[0669] Optionally, the EEC stores information about the EAS discovery process for acquiring the target EAS. The EEC can identify the target EAS to determine if it is an EAS discovered by the pre-executed EAS discovery process, and thus determine to pre-trigger the routing impact for the target EAS.

[0670] After determining that routing impact will be triggered for the target EAS in advance, the EEC reports the relevant information of the target EAS to the EES. After receiving the information of the target EAS, the EES triggers the execution of routing impact for the target EAS or the target application client, or the EES sends a message to the target EAS requesting the execution of routing impact, and the target EAS triggers the execution of routing impact.

[0671] In some other embodiments, when the application client determines that the selected EAS has an optimized user plane path DNAI, it is not necessary to request the selected EAS to perform routing effects.

[0672] S813, EAS triggers the execution of routing effects.

[0673] For details regarding the impact of EAS-triggered routing, please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 5 The description of the illustrated embodiments will not be repeated here.

[0674] In the embodiments of the present application, the application client determines whether to perform EAS discovery or route influence in advance according to the type of the client or the demand of the application client for the delay, the EEC determines whether to initiate the EAS discovery process in advance according to the application information and the indication information, and further, the EES determines whether to trigger the route influence process immediately according to the application information and / or the indication information, that is, determines whether to trigger the SMF or the NEF to perform the route influence, or determines whether the target EAS has an optimized user plane path.

[0675] Figure 10 is another method for requesting application functions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0676] In the embodiments of the present application, the EEC comprehensively determines whether to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the application information and the indication information, the EES directly feeds back the candidate EAS to the EEC after the EAS selection, the EEC sends the selected EAS to the EES after selecting the EAS from the candidate EAS, and requests the EES to perform the route influence for the selected EAS, and the EES determines whether to perform the route influence in advance after receiving the selected EAS related information (such as the application server type) reported by the EEC or receiving the reporting event of the reported selected application server information.

[0677] S901 and S902 are the process of EAS registration on the EES, which is similar to S601 and S602, and the details can be referred to S601 and S602. For the sake of brevity, they are not described here.

[0678] S903 and S904 are similar to S805 and S806 respectively, and the details can be referred to S805 and S806. For the sake of brevity, they are not described here.

[0679] S905, the EES sends an EAS discovery response message to the EEC.

[0680] In some embodiments, the EES can not be configured with the function of determining whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information and / or the indication information. The EES performs EAS discovery after receiving the EAS discovery request message of the EEC, and feeds back one or more EAS information of the candidate to the EEC.

[0681] The detailed process of EES performing EAS discovery can be referred to the related description in Figure 2 .

[0682] The one or more EAS information can also be sent through an EAS discovery subscription response message or through an EAS discovery subscription update response message or an EAS discovery notification message, and the present application does not limit the specific bearing message.

[0683] Exemplarily, when one or more of the discovered EASs meet the application service requirement of the application client, the EES sends an EAS discovery notification message to the EEC, the EAS discovery notification message including information of one or more of the EASs meeting the requirement.

[0684] S906, the EEC selects a target EAS.

[0685] The target EAS, which can also be referred to as the selected EAS, refers to an EAS selected from the obtained one or more candidate EASs for providing application service to the application client.

[0686] According to the one or more candidate EASs fed back in the EAS discovery response message, the EEC selects a target EAS.

[0687] Alternatively, the target EAS can also be determined by the enabling server or the application client, and the application client can report the selected EAS to the EEC after selecting the EAS, and the EEC can report the selected EAS to the EES after receiving the selected EAS.

[0688] S907, the EEC determines whether to pre-execute the routing influence according to the application information and the indication information.

[0689] In some embodiments, the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, and latency requirement.

[0690] In some embodiments, the indication information includes a pre-execution EAS discovery indication and / or a pre-execution routing influence indication.

[0691] In another embodiment, the EEC determines to pre-trigger the execution of the routing influence according to the indication information of the application client.

[0692] In yet another embodiment, the EEC determines to pre-execute the routing influence according to the application information of the application client.

[0693] In yet another embodiment, the EEC determines to pre-trigger the execution of the EAS discovery in combination with the application information and the indication information.

[0694] Exemplarily, the application type and / or the latency requirement in the application information show that the application client does not pre-execute the routing influence, but the indication information requests pre-execution of the routing influence, and at this time, the EEC determines to pre-execute the routing influence for the application client after completing independent judgment according to the application information and the indication information respectively.

[0695] The EEC can determine whether the request of the application client is to perform the routing influence in advance, and can also determine whether the request of the application client is to perform the routing influence in advance. When the EES is not configured with the function of determining whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the application information or the indication information, the EEC can request the EES to trigger the execution of the routing influence of the selected EAS after obtaining the candidate EAS information. The technical solution is beneficial to improving the stability of the edge data network in providing the application service for the application client, and is beneficial to improving the experience of the application client in obtaining the application service.

[0696] In S908, the EEC sends an indication message for performing the routing influence of the target EAS to the EES.

[0697] The indication message includes the target EAS information and one or more DNAIs that can access the target EAS.

[0698] In some embodiments, the indication message can further include the indication information of performing the routing influence in advance and / or the application information.

[0699] In some embodiments, the EEC first sends the target EAS information and the one or more DNAIs that can access the target EAS to the EES, then determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the application information and / or the indication information, and according to the determination result, the EEC further sends the indication information of performing the routing influence in advance to the EES.

[0700] The target EAS can also be referred to as the selected EAS. The target EAS information can be carried in a selected edge application server declaration message, or can also be carried in other messages, which are not limited in the present application. The selected edge application server declaration message can further include the application information and / or the indication information. After receiving the selected edge application server declaration message, the EES can determine whether to perform the routing influence in advance for the selected EAS. The determination process can refer to S505, which is not described herein.

[0701] In S909, the EES determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance.

[0702] In some embodiments, the EES determines whether to perform the routing influence in advance according to the information of the selected application server reported by the EEC.

[0703] In some other embodiments, the EES determines to perform the routing influence in advance after the reporting event of the information of the selected application server reported by the EEC.

[0704] For example, the EES triggers the routing influence of the selected application server in advance immediately after obtaining the reporting event of the selected application server reported by the EEC.

[0705] In the technical solution, the reported information or reported event of the terminal device is used as a basis for the EES to determine whether to perform the route influence in advance, the basis can be generated by the terminal device, and the determination process is performed by the edge data network. The execution of the technical solution is beneficial to the process management of the edge data network for the terminal device to obtain the application service, is beneficial to improving the efficiency of the edge data network to provide the application service, is beneficial to maintaining the stability of the service of the edge data network, is beneficial to improving the efficiency of the terminal device to obtain the application service, and is beneficial to reducing the waste of network resources.

[0706] S910, the EES triggers the execution of the route influence.

[0707] The process in which the EES triggers the execution of the route influence can refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 4 and will not be described here in detail.

[0708] S911, the EES sends a confirmation message to the EEC.

[0709] The confirmation message is used to indicate that the route influence has been performed for the selected EAS.

[0710] Optionally, the confirmation message is also used to indicate whether the route influence for the selected EAS is completed.

[0711] In the embodiment of the application, the EEC judges whether to initiate the EAS discovery process in advance according to the indication information and / or application information of the application client. After the EES feeds back the candidate EAS to the EEC, the EEC judges again whether to perform the route influence in advance, and sends the selected EAS to the EES. The EES triggers the execution of the route influence to perform the optimization of the user plane path for the target EAS according to the reported selected EAS information or the reported event of the selected EAS, or determines that the target EAS has the DNAI of the optimized user plane path, so that the route influence does not need to be performed.

[0712] Figure 11 is another method for requesting an application function provided by the embodiment of the application.

[0713] In the embodiment of the application, the application client determines whether to perform the route influence in advance after the execution of the EAS discovery process according to the application type, the application server type, or the delay requirement.

[0714] S1001 and S1002 are the process in which the EAS is registered on the EES, and the process is similar to S601 and S602. For details, refer to S601 and S602. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described here.

[0715] S1003, the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance.

[0716] The content of S1003 is similar to that of S603, and details can be referred to S603. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

[0717] Optionally, the EEC can also determine whether to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the application information and / or the indication information.

[0718] Optionally, the application information and / or the indication information can be sent by the application client to the EEC, that is, before S1003, a step of receiving the application information and / or the indication information from the application client by the EEC can be further included.

[0719] S1004, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request message to the EES.

[0720] The content of S1004 is similar to that of S604, and details can be referred to S604. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

[0721] S1005, the EES sends an EAS discovery response message to the EEC.

[0722] The content of S1005 is similar to that of S607, and details can be referred to S607. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

[0723] S1006, the EEC sends a first response message to the application client.

[0724] The content of S1006 is similar to that of S810, and details can be referred to S810. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

[0725] S1007, the application client determines whether to request the EAS to perform route influence in advance.

[0726] In some embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the demand of the service on the time delay.

[0727] In another embodiment, the application client determines not to perform route influence in advance according to the demand of the service on the time delay.

[0728] In some embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the type of the application client.

[0729] In another embodiment, the application client determines not to perform route influence in advance according to the type of the application client.

[0730] In some embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the type of the application server.

[0731] In another embodiment, the application client determines not to perform route influence in advance according to the type of the application server.

[0732] In some embodiments, the application client determines to perform the routing impact in advance according to one or more of the following information: service type, application client type, application server type, or latency requirement.

[0733] In some other embodiments, the application client determines not to perform the routing impact in advance according to one or more of the following information: service type, application client type, application server type, or latency requirement.

[0734] In some other embodiments, the application client determines to perform the routing impact in advance according to the judgment result saved in S1003.

[0735] In some other embodiments, the application client sends a query message to the EEC to obtain indication information of whether one or more application servers complete the routing impact, and determines whether to perform the routing impact in advance after determining whether the application server completes the routing impact.

[0736] S1008, the application client sends a routing impact execution request message to the EAS.

[0737] The application client sends indication information of triggering the execution of the routing impact to the selected EAS, which can be determined by the application client, or determined by the EEC or the EES.

[0738] The content of S1008 is similar to that of S812, and can refer to S812 for details, which will not be described here for brevity.

[0739] For the EEC not configured to determine whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance according to the application information or the indication information, and the EES not configured to determine whether to perform the routing impact in advance according to the application information or the indication information, the application client can determine whether to perform the routing impact in advance after obtaining the connection mode of the candidate EAS, and when it is necessary to perform the routing impact in advance, the application client can directly request the target EAS to trigger the execution of the request of performing the routing impact for the target EAS. This technical solution is beneficial to improving the stability of the application client to obtain the application service, and is beneficial to improving the quality and efficiency of the application client to obtain the application service.

[0740] S1009, the EAS triggers the execution of the routing impact.

[0741] The process of the EAS triggering the execution of the routing impact can refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 5 and will not be described here for brevity.

[0742] That is, the application client can directly request the selected EAS to trigger the execution of the routing impact after determining the selected EAS, or the application client can also report the selected EAS to the EEC, and finally trigger the execution of the routing impact by the EES or request the selected EAS to trigger the execution of the routing impact by the EES.

[0743] S1010, the EAS sends a confirmation message to the application client.

[0744] In some embodiments, after receiving the target DNAI information sent by the SMF or the NEF, the EAS determines that the EAS has an optimized user plane path, and the EAS sends a confirmation message to the application client, which indicates that the returned EAS has an optimized user plane path.

[0745] In the embodiments of the present application, the application client obtains a list of candidate EASs after performing the EAS discovery process, and the application client determines to perform the routing impact in advance according to the application type or the demand of the application client for the delay before obtaining the application service, so as to trigger the EAS to perform the routing impact in advance.

[0746] Figure 12 is another method for requesting an application function provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0747] In the embodiments of the present application, the ECS determines whether to perform the routing impact in advance according to the application information and / or the indication information, and the routing impact is used to establish an optimized user plane path between the UE and the EES.

[0748] S1101, the EES sends an EES registration request message to the ECS.

[0749] The registration request message is used to request to register the EES on the ECS, and the registration request message can include an EES profile, which includes a DNAI list. The terminal device or the application client can access the EES through the DNAI in the DNAI list.

[0750] In some embodiments, the EES sends an EES registration update request message to the ECS, and the EES registration update request message is used to request to update the registration information of the EES that has been registered on the ECS.

[0751] Optionally, the DNAI information of the EES can be directly included in the registration request message.

[0752] Optionally, the related information of the EES (such as the DNAI information of the EES) can also be configured on the ECS in a preconfigured manner.

[0753] S1102, the ECS sends a registration response message to the EES.

[0754] The registration response message is used to indicate whether the registration of the EES is successful. In the case that the ECS receives the registration update request message sent by the EES, the ECS sends the EES registration update response message to the EES.

[0755] In the case that the EES registration is successful, the registration response message can include the ID of the EES registration and the time when the EES registration expires. In the case that the EES registration fails, the registration response message can include the cause information of the EES registration failure.

[0756] In S1103, the application client determines whether to perform EES discovery in advance and / or perform route influence in advance.

[0757] In some embodiments, the application client determines to initiate EES discovery in advance according to the application type of the application client, and the application client can request the EEC to discover the EES in advance.

[0758] In some other embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the application type of the application client, and the application client can request the EEC to discover the EES in advance.

[0759] In some embodiments, the application client determines to initiate EES discovery in advance according to the latency requirement of the application client, and the application client requests the EEC to discover the EES in advance.

[0760] In some other embodiments, the application client determines to perform route influence in advance according to the latency requirement of the application client, and the application client can request the EEC to discover the EES in advance.

[0761] The latency requirement can be the latency requirement of the first packet, the latency requirement of the application client, or the latency requirement of the application server required by the application client. Here, the first packet refers to the first data packet sent by the application client to the application server in the process of communication between the application client and the application server, i.e., the first data packet in the data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0762] The latency requirement of the first packet can be used to indicate the overall latency requirement or the average latency requirement of all data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0763] Alternatively, the latency requirement of the first packet can also be used to indicate the characteristic value of the latency requirement of the data packets within a specific time period or part or all of the data packets in the process of data interaction between the application client and the application server. For example, the arithmetic mean or geometric mean of the latency requirement of all data packets in the first interaction between the application client and the application server.

[0764] In some embodiments, the application client determines whether to initiate EES discovery in advance according to the application server type of the application client, and the application client requests the EEC to discover the EES in advance.

[0765] In some other embodiments, the application client determines whether to perform route influence in advance according to the application server type of the application client, and the application client can request the EEC to discover the EES in advance.

[0766] In some embodiments, the application client does not determine whether to perform EES discovery in advance and / or perform route influence in advance, and the determination can be performed by the EEC, i.e., S1103 is optional.

[0767] S1104, the application client sends a first request message to the EEC.

[0768] The first request message includes application information and / or indication information, the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, or latency requirement, etc., and the indication information includes an EES discovery in advance indication and / or a route influence in advance indication.

[0769] In some embodiments, the application information of the application client is configured to the EEC in a preconfigured manner, and the application client does not send the first request message to the EEC, i.e., S1104 is optional.

[0770] One or more of the application type, the application server type, or the latency requirement, etc. in the application information can be configured to the EEC in a preconfigured manner, can be sent to the EEC by the application client sending a message to the EEC, or can be obtained by the EEC in other more ways, and the application does not limit the way in which the EEC obtains the information that can be contained in the application information.

[0771] When one or more of the application information is not included in the first request message, the one or more information not included can be configured to the EEC in a preconfigured manner, so that the EEC can make a comprehensive determination in combination with the content of the application information obtained through various channels and the indication information.

[0772] S1105, the EEC determines whether to perform EES discovery in advance.

[0773] EES discovery is performed to determine the EES suitable for providing services to the terminal device and the access mode of the EES. Performing EES discovery in advance means performing EES discovery before the application client starts or before the terminal device interacts with the EES, and performing in advance can also be referred to as performing in advance or performing immediately, etc.

[0774] The EES suitable for providing services for the terminal device determined through the EES discovery process can be referred to as a candidate EES, and the specific EES discovery process can refer to the related description of Figure 3 .

[0775] The EEC can determine whether to perform EES discovery in advance according to application information, wherein the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, or latency requirement, etc.

[0776] The EEC can also determine whether to perform EES discovery in advance according to indication information, wherein the indication information includes a pre-performing EES discovery indication and / or a pre-performing routing impact indication.

[0777] Alternatively, the EEC can also determine whether to perform EES discovery in advance according to the application information and the indication information.

[0778] Alternatively, the EEC can also determine the pre-performing routing impact according to the application information and / or the indication information, and determine whether to perform EES discovery in advance according to the determination result.

[0779] The content of the EEC determining whether to perform EES discovery in advance according to the application information and / or the indication information is similar to the content of the EEC determining whether to perform EAS in advance according to the application information and / or the indication information, which can refer to S304, S603, S501 and S805, etc. for details, which will not be described here for brevity.

[0780] When it is determined not to perform EES discovery in advance, S1106 to S1110 can no longer be executed. Alternatively, the EEC can save the determination result of not performing EES discovery in advance.

[0781] Alternatively, the EEC can send indication information to the application client that EES discovery is not performed in advance, which is similar to the description of the embodiment shown in Figure 15 , which can refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 15 for details, which will not be described here for brevity.

[0782] The EEC first determines whether to perform EES discovery in advance before sending the request message for requesting to perform EES discovery, and the basis for the determination is the related information of the application client itself attribute and / or the running state of the terminal device. The execution of the determination can enable the EEC to provide different services for the application client according to the difference of the application client and the difference of the running state when providing services for the application client, which is beneficial to improve the service efficiency of the terminal device, beneficial to reasonably allocate the resources of the terminal device, and beneficial to improve the application use experience of the user.

[0783] S1106, the EEC sends a service providing request message to the ECS.

[0784] The service providing request message is used to request discovery of one or more EESs to provide services for the terminal device. The service providing request can also be carried in an EES discovery subscription request message or an EES discovery subscription update request message, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific carrying message.

[0785] The service request message includes one or more of the following information: location of the terminal device, service demand, service preference, or connectivity. The ECS can determine one or more EESs that can provide services for the terminal device according to one or more of the above information.

[0786] In some embodiments, the service request message includes an application client type.

[0787] In one embodiment, the service request message includes an application client profile, and the application client profile includes an application client type.

[0788] In some other embodiments, the service providing request message includes information about latency requirements of the application client.

[0789] In one embodiment, the service providing request message includes a latency requirement related information element, which is used to store latency requirements of the application client.

[0790] Exemplarily,

[0791] Information element name: latency requirement (delay requirement);

[0792] Information element status: optional or mandatory;

[0793] Information element description: less than or equal to 0.1 ms.

[0794] In another embodiment, the service providing request message uses an existing information element to store latency requirements of the application client.

[0795] In some embodiments, the service providing request message includes an application server type.

[0796] In one embodiment, the service providing request message includes one or more service key performance indicators that can determine the application server type.

[0797] Exemplarily, the service providing request message includes at least one of the following service key performance indicators of the application server: connection bandwidth, request rate, response time, availability, required computing resources, image computing resources, memory resources, and storage resources.

[0798] In some embodiments, the service provides request messages that include indications for pre-implementing routing effects and / or indications for pre-implementing EES discovery.

[0799] In one embodiment, the EAS discovers a new delay requirement-related information element in the request message, which is used to store indication information.

[0800] For example,

[0801] Cell name: Instructions;

[0802] Cell status: optional or required;

[0803] Cell description: Pre-execute EES discovery and / or pre-execute routing effects.

[0804] In another embodiment, the EES discovery request message uses existing cells to store indication information.

[0805] S1107, ECS determines whether to pre-execute routing effects.

[0806] The immediate execution of routing effects can also be referred to as pre-execution or advance execution. Since routing effects are executed by SMF or NEF, execution here can be understood as triggered execution.

[0807] The content of ECS determining whether to pre-execute routes based on application information and / or indication information is similar to the content of EES determining whether to pre-execute routes based on application information and / or indication information. For details, please refer to S505, S605, S503 and S803. For the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0808] S1108, ECS triggers the execution of routing impact.

[0809] The content of the impact of ECS triggering route execution in S1108 and Figure 4 The content of the routing impact triggered by EES is similar. For example, during the process of ECS triggering the routing impact, ECS sends an application function request message to SMF, and the content is similar to... Figure 4 The content of the application function request message sent by the S301 EES to the SMF is similar; for details, please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 4 The relevant descriptions are not elaborated here.

[0810] Optionally, the routing impact can also be triggered by EES, and the content of the routing impact triggered by EES is the same as... Figure 5 The content of the routing impact triggered by EES is similar. For example, during the process of EES triggering the routing impact, EES sends an application function request message to SMF, and this content is similar to... Figure 5The content of the S401 EAS sending an application function request message to the SMF is similar, and specific content can be referred to the related description of Figure 5 , which will not be described here in detail.

[0811] When it is determined that the routing impact is not preformed, S1108 to S1110 can no longer be performed. Optionally, the ECS saves the determination result of not preforming the routing impact.

[0812] Optionally, the ECS can send indication information of not preforming the routing impact to the EEC, which is similar to the description of the embodiment shown in Figure 14 , and specific content can be referred to the embodiment shown in Figure 14 , which will not be described here in detail.

[0813] S1109, the ECS sends a service providing response message to the EEC.

[0814] The service providing response message is used to return one or more candidate EES information to the EEC, and the one or more candidate EES information can also be sent through the EES discovery subscription response message or the EES discovery subscription update response message or the EES discovery notification message, and specific bearer messages are not limited in the present application.

[0815] In some embodiments, the ECS can send a service providing response message to the EEC, and the service providing response message further contains indication information for indicating whether the routing impact has been requested to be performed to the SMF or the NEF. If the ECS has requested to perform the routing impact before sending the service providing response message, the indication information contained in the service providing response message indicates that the routing impact has been requested to be performed to the SMF or the NEF; if the ECS has not requested to perform the routing impact before sending the service providing response message, the indication information contained in the service providing response message indicates that the routing impact has not been requested to be performed to the SMF or the NEF.

[0816] In some embodiments, the ECS judges whether the path of the EES is optimized, and the ECS returns the EES with the optimized user plane path to the EEC, so that the EEC can further return the EES with the optimized user plane path to the application client.

[0817] Specifically, the EES returns the EES information with the optimized user plane path and / or the DNAI information of the EES to the EEC. The application client acquires the EES with the optimized user plane path, which is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the application client acquiring the application service provided by the application server, and is beneficial to improve the application experience of the user of the terminal device.

[0818] In other embodiments, the service providing response message includes the EES information and the indication information of whether the EES has the optimized user plane path.

[0819] Specifically, the ECS returns the information of the EES and the DNAI information to the EEC, the DNAI information including one or more DNAIs and indication information indicating whether the one or more DNAIs have optimized user plane paths.

[0820] Exemplarily, the one or more DNAIs can be represented in the form of a DNAI list, and the indication information can be contained in the DNAI list.

[0821] After obtaining the indication information indicating whether the EES has an optimized user plane path, the application client can select an EES connection having an optimized user plane path according to the indication information and obtain application services, and implementation of the embodiments of the application is advantageous to improve the efficiency of the application client in obtaining application services.

[0822] In S1110, the EEC sends a first response message to the application client.

[0823] The first response message is used to send the information of one or more candidate EESs to the application client.

[0824] In some embodiments, the EEC selects an EES that has completed route influence from the one or more candidate EESs and sends the EES to the application client, and optionally, the first response message further indicates indication information indicating that the EES has triggered execution of route influence.

[0825] Specifically, the EEC returns the information of the EES and the DNAI information to the application client, the DNAI information including one or more DNAIs and indication information indicating whether the one or more DNAIs have optimized user plane paths.

[0826] In other embodiments, the EEC does not screen the one or more candidate EESs, and the EEC sends the information of one or more EESs to the application client through the first response message, and the first response message further includes indication information indicating whether the one or more EESs have triggered execution of route influence.

[0827] Specifically, the EEC returns the information of the EES and the DNAI information to the application client, the DNAI information including one or more DNAIs and indication information indicating whether the one or more DNAIs have optimized user plane paths.

[0828] Exemplarily, the one or more DNAIs can be represented in the form of a DNAI list, and the indication information can be contained in the DNAI list.

[0829] Optionally, the first response message further indicates whether the one or more EESs have completed route influence.

[0830] It should be understood that,Figure 12 Fig. 1 shows a possible implementation in which the ECS triggers the EES to perform the route influence according to the determination information, Figures 4 to 11 The skilled in the art can also apply the technical content of the application client, the EEC or the EES triggering the EAS to perform the route influence according to the determination information to Figure 12 The embodiments shown in the above description, and the new embodiments formed by the combination of the embodiments shown in the above description and the embodiments shown in the following description, are all included in the scope of the present application. For the purpose of clarity and conciseness, the present application does not describe all the embodiments.

[0831] The above description is combined with Figures 4 to 12 The above description is combined with Figure 13 The above description is combined with Figure 14 The embodiments in which the EEC determines not to perform the EES discovery and / or not to perform the route influence in advance and the EES determines not to perform the route influence in advance are described in detail. The embodiments in which the EEC determines not to perform the EES discovery and / or not to perform the route influence in advance and the ECS determines not to perform the route influence in advance are similar to the embodiments described above, and can be referred to for implementation.

[0832] Figure 13 Fig. 1 shows a possible implementation in which the ECS triggers the EES to perform the route influence according to the determination information,

[0833] In the embodiments of the present application, the EEC determines to perform the EAS discovery in advance, and the EES determines not to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information.

[0834] In S1201, the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance.

[0835] The method in which the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance is similar to the method described in S501 in the above description, and can be referred to for implementation. Figure 6 The method in which the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance is similar to the method described in S501 in the above description, and can be referred to for implementation.

[0836] In S1202, the EEC sends an EAS discovery request message.

[0837] The EAS discovery request message sent by the EEC to the EES includes application information, and the application information includes one or more of the following information: application type, application server type, or latency requirement.

[0838] Optionally, the EAS discovery request message can further include indication information of performing the EAS discovery in advance.

[0839] In S1203, the EES determines whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0840] The EES determines not to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information included in the EAS discovery request message.

[0841] S1204. Optionally, the EES stores the result information of the judgment of not pre-performing the routing impact.

[0842] The result information of the judgment includes one or more of the following information: the result of the judgment of not pre-performing the routing impact, the application client identifier, or one or more EASs determined by the EES through the EAS discovery process.

[0843] The stored result information of the judgment of not pre-performing the routing impact is used by the EES to determine whether to pre-perform the routing impact for the same application client (target application client) next time.

[0844] Specifically, when the EES receives the application information of the target application client sent by the EEC, the EES can no longer determine whether to pre-perform the routing impact according to the application information, and the EES can determine not to pre-perform the routing impact for the target application client according to the result information of the judgment of not pre-performing the routing impact. When the EES receives the indication information of pre-performing the routing impact for the target application client sent by the EEC, the EES determines to pre-perform the routing impact.

[0845] In some embodiments, the EEC sends the EAS discovery request message including the indication information of pre-performing the EAS discovery to the EES, and the EES pre-performs the EAS discovery process according to the indication information of pre-performing the EAS discovery to determine one or more EASs for the target application client, which can also be referred to as candidate EASs.

[0846] When the EES pre-performs the EAS discovery process, the result information of the judgment can include information of one or more EASs.

[0847] S1205. Optionally, the EES sends the indication information to the EEC.

[0848] The indication information is used to indicate that the routing impact is not pre-performed, and the indication information can include one or more of the following information: the result of the judgment of not pre-performing the routing impact, the application client identifier, or one or more EASs determined by the EES through the EAS discovery process.

[0849] When the indication information includes the result of the judgment of not pre-performing the routing impact and the application client identifier, the EEC can determine not to pre-perform the EAS discovery for the target application client according to the received result information of the judgment, without the need to determine according to the application information.

[0850] When the indication information includes the result of the determination of whether to perform the route influence in advance, the application client identifier, and the information of one or more EASs, the EEC can determine the selected EAS from the one or more EASs, and the EEC can report the selected EAS to the EES, so as to trigger the EES to perform the route influence for the selected EAS.

[0851] Optionally, the EEC can also send the information of the selected EAS to the application client, and the application client can directly request the selected EAS to trigger the performance of the route influence after obtaining the information of the selected EAS.

[0852] Optionally, the EEC can also send the information of one or more EASs to the application client, and the application client can determine the selected EAS from the one or more EASs, and then send the selected EAS to the EEC, and then the EEC requests the EES to trigger the performance of the route influence for the selected EAS. Alternatively, the application client requests the selected EAS to trigger the performance of the route influence.

[0853] In some embodiments, the EEC saves the indication information, and the saved result of the determination can be used for the next time the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery or the route influence in advance for the application client.

[0854] In some embodiments, the EEC sends the result of the determination of whether to perform the route influence in advance to the application client, and the application client performs corresponding operations according to the result of the determination of whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0855] For example, the application client sends the indication information of performing the route influence in advance to the EEC according to the result of the determination of whether to perform the route influence in advance, so as to indicate the EEC to perform the route influence in advance for the application client.

[0856] For example, when the application client receives the result of the determination of whether to perform the route influence in advance and the information of one or more EASs or the information of the selected EAS, the application client can request the selected EAS to perform the route influence in advance.

[0857] Figure 14 Another method for requesting an application function provided in the embodiments of the present application is shown in the schematic diagram.

[0858] In the embodiments of the present application, the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance according to the application information.

[0859] In S1301, the EEC determines whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance.

[0860] The content of the determination of whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance in S1301 is the same as that of the determination of whether to perform the EAS discovery in advance and / or whether to perform the route influence in advance in S1201. Figure 6The S501 content is similar, and for details, refer to S501, which is not repeated here.

[0861] S1302, optionally, the EEC saves the result of the determination of not performing EAS discovery in advance and / or not performing route influence in advance.

[0862] When the EEC determines not to perform EAS discovery in advance according to the application information, the EEC can save the result of the determination of not performing EAS discovery in advance, which can be used for the EEC to determine whether to perform EAS discovery in advance and / or perform route influence in advance for the same application client (target application client) in the future.

[0863] S1303, optionally, the EEC sends indication information to the application client.

[0864] The indication information is used to indicate that EAS discovery is not performed in advance, and the indication information can include the result of the determination of not performing EAS discovery in advance. The target application client performs corresponding operations according to the result of the determination of not performing EAS discovery in advance.

[0865] Optionally, in the case where the application client requests and / or subscribes to the result of the determination from the EEC, the application client sends the indication information to the application client after determining the result of the determination of not performing EAS discovery in advance.

[0866] Exemplarily, the target application client sends indication information of performing EAS discovery in advance and / or performing route influence in advance to the EEC according to the result of the determination of not performing EAS discovery in advance. It should be understood that the above Figures 2 to 14 For some embodiments provided in the present application, those skilled in the art can also obtain new embodiments by combining steps or adjusting the execution order of steps in different embodiments, for example, Figure 7 S605 in the above embodiment can be combined with Figure 12 S903 in the above embodiment can be combined with Figure 7 S601 or S602 in the above embodiment can be executed after S603, Figure 7 S608 in the above embodiment can be executed before S607, and for the sake of brevity, embodiments obtained by the above-mentioned manners are not listed in the present application, and it should be understood that this part of embodiments should also fall within the scope of the present application.

[0867] Based on the same inventive concept as the above method embodiments, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication apparatus, which can have the functions of the enabling server, the enabling client and the application client in the above method embodiments, and can be used to execute the steps performed by the functions of the enabling server or the enabling client or the application client in the above method embodiments. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by software or hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0868] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1500 as shown in Figure 15 may serve as the enabling server involved in the above method embodiments, and execute the steps performed by the enabling server in the above method embodiments.

[0869] As shown in Figure 15 , the communication apparatus 1500 can include a transceiver 1510 and a processing unit 1520, which are coupled to each other.

[0870] The transceiver 1510 can be used to support the communication apparatus 1500 to communicate, for example, to perform the sending and / or receiving actions performed by the enabling server in S101, S103, S301, S504, S602, S604, S702, S705, S806, S908 and S1005, etc. in the above method embodiments. Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Figure 9 , Figure 10 and Figure 11 .

[0871] The processing unit 1520 can be used to support the communication apparatus 1500 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiments, for example, to perform the processing actions performed by the enabling server in S102, S505, S605, S606, S703, S704 and S807, etc. in the above method embodiments. Figure 2 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 and Figure 9 .

[0872] In another possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1500 as shown in Figure 15 may serve as the enabling client involved in the above method embodiments, and execute the steps performed by the enabling client in the above method embodiments.

[0873] As shown in Figure 15 , the communication apparatus 1500 can include a transceiver 1510 and a processing unit 1520, which are coupled to each other.As shown, the communication device 1500 may include a transceiver unit 1510 and a processing unit 1520, which are coupled to each other.

[0874] The transceiver unit 1510 can be used to support the communication device 1500 in communication, for example, performing... Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Figure 9 , Figure 10 , Figure 11 and Figure 12 The actions of sending and / or receiving, such as S101, S103, S201, S203, S502, S504, S804, S807, S702, S705, S804, S806, S809, S810, S904, S905, S1004, S1005, S1008, S1010, S1104, S1106, S1109, and S1110, are performed by the enabling client.

[0875] Processing unit 1520 can be used to support the communication device 1500 in performing the processing actions in the above method embodiments, such as performing... Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Figure 9 , Figure 10 and Figure 11 S503, S603, S701, S805, S903, and S1003 are processing actions executed by the enabling client.

[0876] In another possible implementation, such as Figure 15 The communication device 1500 shown can serve as an application client in the above method embodiments and execute the steps performed by the application client in the above method embodiments.

[0877] like Figure 15 As shown, the communication device 1500 may include a transceiver unit 1510 and a processing unit 1520, which are coupled to each other.

[0878] The transceiver unit 1510 can be used to support the communication device 1500 in communication, for example, performing... Figure 6 , Figure 9 , Figure 11 , Figure 12 and Figure 14 The actions of sending and / or receiving, such as S501, S804, S810, S1006, S1103, and S1303, are performed by the application client.

[0879] The processing unit 1520 can be configured to support the communication apparatus 1500 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiments, e.g., perform the processing actions of S501, S803, S811, S1007 and S1103 in Figure 6 , Figure 9 , Figure 11 and Figure 12 performed by the application client.

[0880] In yet another possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1500 as illustrated in Figure 15 may function as the edge configuration server involved in the above method embodiments, and perform the steps performed by the edge configuration server in the above method embodiments.

[0881] As illustrated in Figure 15 , the communication apparatus 1500 can include a transceiver unit 1510 and a processing unit 1520 which are coupled to each other.

[0882] The transceiver unit 1510 can be configured to support the communication apparatus 1500 to communicate, e.g., perform the transmitting and / or receiving actions of S401, S402, S601, S602, S801, S802, S812, S901, S901 and S1010 in Figure 5 , Figure 7 , Figure 9 , Figure 10 and Figure 11 performed by the application server.

[0883] The processing unit 1520 can be configured to support the communication apparatus 1500 to perform the processing actions in the above method embodiments, e.g., perform the processing actions of S813 and S1009 in Figure 9 and Figure 11 performed by the application server.

[0884] In yet another possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1500 as illustrated in Figure 15 may function as the edge configuration server involved in the above method embodiments, and perform the steps performed by the edge configuration server in the above method embodiments.

[0885] As illustrated in Figure 15 , the communication apparatus 1500 can include a transceiver unit 1510 and a processing unit 1520 which are coupled to each other.

[0886] The transceiver unit 1510 can be configured to support the communication apparatus 1500 to communicate, e.g., perform the transmitting and / or receiving actions of S401, S402, S601, S602, S801, S802, S812, S901, S901 and S1010 in Figure 3 and Figure 12The sending and / or receiving actions performed by the edge configuration server in S201, S203, S1101, S1102, S1106, and S1109, etc.

[0887] The processing unit 1520 can be configured to support the communication apparatus 1500 to perform the processing actions in the above-mentioned method embodiments, for example, to perform the processing actions in S201, S203, S1101, S1102, S1106, and S1109, etc. Figure 3 and Figure 12 The processing actions performed by the edge configuration server in S202, S1107, and S1108, etc.

[0888] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1500 further includes a storage unit 1530, configured to store program codes and data of the communication apparatus 1500.

[0889] Figure 16 is a schematic block diagram of the communication device 1600 provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in the figure, the communication device 1600 includes at least one processor 1610 and a transceiver 1620. The processor 1610 is coupled with the memory, and is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver 1620 to send and / or receive signals.

[0890] Optionally, the communication device 1600 further includes a memory 1630, configured to store instructions.

[0891] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned processor 1610 and the memory 1630 can be combined into one processing device, and the processor 1610 is configured to execute program codes stored in the memory 1630 to realize the above-mentioned functions. In specific implementation, the memory 1630 can also be integrated in the processor 1610, or be independent of the processor 1610.

[0892] In some embodiments, the transceiver 1620 can include a receiver (or receiver) and a transmitter (or transmitter).

[0893] The transceiver 1620 can further include an antenna, and the number of antennas can be one or more. The transceiver 1620 can be a communication interface or an interface circuit.

[0894] When the communication device 1600 is a chip, the chip includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit can be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; and the processing unit can be a processor or a microprocessor integrated on the chip or an integrated circuit.

[0895] In the implementation process, the steps of the above method can be completed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in combination with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as hardware processor execution completion, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a mature storage medium in the art such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, register, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory, and combines the hardware to complete the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0896] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for implementing the method executed by the communication device in the above method embodiments.

[0897] For example, the computer program is executed by the computer, so that the computer can implement the method executed by the communication device in the above method embodiments.

[0898] The explanations and beneficial effects of the related contents in any of the above-provided devices can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be described here in detail.

[0899] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of the examples 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 executed in hardware or software mode depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians 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.

[0900] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here in detail.

[0901] In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented by other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, and the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there can be another division way in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0902] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0903] In addition, the functional units in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present alone, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit.

[0904] If the functions are realized in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application or the part of the present application that essentially contributes to the prior art or the part 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 method described in each embodiment 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 program code storage media.

[0905] The above is only a specific embodiment 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 requesting application functions, characterized in that, include: The enabling server receives an application server discovery request message from an enabling client, the application server discovery request message including first determination information; The enabling server determines whether to pre-execute routing impact based on the first determination information; When it is determined that routing effects will be performed in advance, the enabling server sends an application feature request message before sending an application server discovery response message. The application feature request message is used to request that routing effects be performed for one or more application servers.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first determination information includes application information, which includes one or more of the following: application type, application server type, or latency requirements.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first determination information includes indication information, which is used to instruct the application server to perform pre-execution discovery and / or pre-execution of routing effects.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The enabling server sending the application function request message includes: the enabling server sending the application function request message to the session management network element or the network open function network element.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The application function request message includes information about the target application server, which is used to request that routing effects be performed on the target application server.

6. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The latency requirement includes any one of the following: The latency requirements of the first packet, the latency requirements of the application client, or the latency requirements of the application server required by the application client.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The aforementioned pre-execution of routing effects includes: executing routing effects before the application client and application server have data interaction.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: The enabling server sends a discovery response message, which indicates that routing effects have been performed for the one or more application servers.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, When the effects of pre-executing routing are determined, the method further includes: The enabling server sends a first indication message to the selected application server. The first indication message is used to indicate that the routing effect is to be pre-triggered. The one or more application servers include the selected application server.

10. A communication system, comprising an enabling server and an enabling client, characterized in that, The enabling server is used to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, and the enabling client is used to send an application server discovery request message to the enabling server.

11. The communication system according to claim 10, characterized in that, The communication system further includes a session management network element or a network open function network element, which is used to receive application function request messages from the enabling server.

12. A device for requesting application functions, characterized in that, Includes units that implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

13. A device for requesting application functions, characterized in that, include: A processor for executing computer instructions stored in memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

14. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, It stores a computer program thereon, which, when executed by a computer, enables the implementation of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

15. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes computer program code, and when the computer program code is run on a computer, the method of any one of claims 1 to 9 is performed.

16. A chip, characterized in that, include: A processor for reading instructions stored in memory, and when the processor executes the instructions, causing the chip to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

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