Registration method, device, electronic device and storage medium for non-terrestrial UPF network element

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a registration method, device, electronic device and storage medium for a non-ground UPF network element, and relates to the technical field of wireless communication networks. The method applied to the ground network OAM includes: initiating a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures, determining the designated non-ground infrastructure; sending a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information; receiving the UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-ground network OAM. The present disclosure can configure UPF network elements on any type of non-ground infrastructure, and realize the configuration of UPF network elements on satellites in medium and low orbits.

Description

Background Art

[0002] Since satellite communication has large capacity and wide coverage, and is not restricted by ground conditions, the satellite network can be combined with the ground network to provide services in remote areas and meet the needs of emergencies. At present, carrying user plane network elements (UPF) on satellites is a research issue, but the existing technology only considers the case of carrying UPF on high-orbit earth satellites, while earth satellites in medium and low orbits are not equipped with UPF.

[0003] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background technology section is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and therefore may include information that does not constitute the prior art known to ordinary technicians in the field. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present disclosure provides a registration method, device, electronic device and storage medium for a non-ground UPF network element, which at least to a certain extent overcomes the problem in the related art that user plane network elements cannot be configured on earth satellites in medium orbit and low orbit.

[0005] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part by the practice of the present disclosure.

[0006] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element is provided, which is applied to terrestrial network OAM, including:

[0007] Initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0008] Receiving information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM;

[0009] Determine the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0010] Sending a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information;

[0011] Receive the UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of a network element description file of the UPF network element, the registration method further includes:

[0013] Based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, a first network element description file registration request information is sent to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following:

[0015] The UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, gateway station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and non-terrestrial infrastructure distance information.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UPF network element configuration information includes at least: information of a base station connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure;

[0017] The base station information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to represent information of one or more base stations connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and time period information of each base station being connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured includes at least one of the following:

[0019] Non-terrestrial infrastructure type information, non-terrestrial infrastructure identification information and gateway station information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure;

[0020] The gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to represent information of one or more gateways connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure and time period information of each gateway being connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure.

[0021] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element is provided, which is applied to non-terrestrial network OAM, including:

[0022] In response to a non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, the ground network OAM returns information about one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured, wherein after receiving the information about the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured, the ground OAM network determines the designated non-ground infrastructure among the one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information about the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0023] Receive a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on a designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0024] The UPF network element configuration information is sent to the designated non-ground infrastructure, and after the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-ground infrastructure, a UPF network element configuration response message is returned to the ground network OAM.

[0025] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element.

[0026] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element is provided, which is applied to a UPF network element, and includes:

[0027] Based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-ground network OAM, the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-ground infrastructure; wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure for the UPF network element to be configured.

[0028] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the registration method for a non-ground UPF network element provided also includes: when the UPF network element configuration information includes an NRF network element identifier, sending a second network element description file registration request information to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

[0029] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following:

[0030] The UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, gateway station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and non-terrestrial infrastructure distance information.

[0031] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a registration device for a non-ground UPF network element is also provided, which is applied to ground network OAM, including:

[0032] A first request initiating module, configured to initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM, so as to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0033] A first receiving module is used to receive information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-ground network OAM;

[0034] The designated non-ground infrastructure determination module is used to determine the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0035] A first sending module is used to send a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information; and

[0036] The second receiving module is used to receive the UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM.

[0037] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element is also provided, which is applied to non-terrestrial network OAM, including:

[0038] A first return module is used to respond to the non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, and return the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured to the ground network OAM, wherein the ground OAM network determines the designated non-ground infrastructure among the one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured after receiving the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0039] a third receiving module, configured to receive a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on a designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; and

[0040] The second sending module is used to send the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-ground infrastructure, and after completing the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure, return the UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM.

[0041] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element is also provided, which is applied to a UPF network element, including:

[0042] The UPF configuration module is used to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-ground network OAM; wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure for the UPF network element to be configured.

[0043] According to the seventh aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is also provided, which includes: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the registration method of the non-ground UPF network element described in any one of the first aspect, the second aspect and the third aspect above by executing the executable instructions.

[0044] According to the eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the registration method of the non-ground UPF network element described in any one of the first aspect, the second aspect and the third aspect is implemented.

[0045] According to the ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is also provided, including a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the registration method of the non-ground UPF network element described in any one of the first aspect, the second aspect and the third aspect.

[0046] The registration method of non-ground UPF network elements provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure uses the ground network OAM to initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to determine the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures to be configured with the UPF network element, determine the designated non-ground infrastructure from the one or more non-ground infrastructures, and send a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information. A process is provided that can configure UPF network elements on any type of non-ground infrastructure, for example, UPF network elements can also be configured on earth satellites and drones in high, medium, and low orbits, and UPF network elements on non-ground infrastructure can be flexibly configured in mobile networks.

[0047] It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] The accompanying drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, and together with the specification are used to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and for ordinary technicians in this field, other accompanying drawings can be obtained based on these accompanying drawings without creative work.

[0049] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing a registration system architecture of a non-terrestrial UPF network element in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0050] Figure 2 A flowchart of a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element applied to ground network OAM in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0051] Figure 3 A flowchart of a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element applied to ground network OAM in some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0052] Figure 4 A flowchart of a registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element applied to non-terrestrial network OAM in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0053] Figure 5 A flowchart of a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element applied to a UPF network element in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0054] Figure 6 A flowchart of a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element applied to a UPF network element in some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0055] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a low-orbit satellite switching scenario in an air-ground scenario in a specific example of an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0056] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element applied to terrestrial satellite network OAM in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0057] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element applied to non-terrestrial network OAM in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0058] Fig.10 A schematic diagram showing a registration device for a non-ground UPF network element applied to a UPF network element in an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0059] Fig.11 A structural block diagram of an electronic device in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0060] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, example embodiments can be implemented in a variety of forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will be more comprehensive and complete and to fully convey the concepts of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[0061] In addition, the accompanying drawings are only schematic illustrations of the present disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the figures represent the same or similar parts, and their repeated description will be omitted. Some of the block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically independent entities. These functional entities can be implemented in software form, or implemented in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or implemented in different networks and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0062] The specific implementation of the embodiment of the present disclosure is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0063] Figure 1 FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a registration system architecture to which non-ground UPF network elements in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied. Figure 1 As shown, the system architecture may include: ground network OAM 10, non-ground network OAM 20, UPF network element 30 and NRF network element 40. Any two devices in the system are connected via a network, which may be a wireless network.

[0064] Optionally, the wireless network described above uses standard communication technologies and / or protocols. The network is typically the Internet, but may also be any network, including but not limited to a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a mobile or wireless network, a dedicated network, or any combination of a virtual private network). In some embodiments, technologies and / or formats including Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), etc. are used to represent data exchanged over the network. In addition, conventional encryption technologies such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) may be used to encrypt all or some links. In other embodiments, customized and / or dedicated data communication technologies may also be used to replace or supplement the above data communication technologies.

[0065] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ground network OAM10 (Operation Administration and Maintenance) initiates a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM20 to request the non-ground network OAM20 to provide information about one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF (User plane Function) network element 30 to be configured. It should be noted that the non-ground infrastructure can be a satellite or a high-altitude platform. The information about the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element 30 to be configured includes at least one of the following: non-ground infrastructure type information, non-ground infrastructure identification information, and gateway station information connected to the non-ground infrastructure; wherein the gateway station information connected to the non-ground infrastructure is used to characterize the information of one or more gateway stations connected to the non-ground infrastructure and the time period information of each gateway station connected to the non-ground infrastructure.

[0066] After the non-ground network OAM 20 returns the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element 30 to be configured to the ground network OAM 10, the ground network OAM 10 determines the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element 30 to be configured. It should be noted that the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element 30 to be configured, that is, the ground network OAM 10 selects a non-ground infrastructure from one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element 30 to be configured as the designated non-ground infrastructure.

[0067] After the ground network OAM10 determines the designated non-ground infrastructure, the ground network OAM10 sends a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-ground network OAM20 to request the non-ground network OAM20 to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information. It should be noted that the UPF network element configuration information at least includes: base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure. Among them, the base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure is used to characterize one or more base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure and the time period information of each base station connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure.

[0068] The non-terrestrial network OAM20 sends the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, and the UPF network element 30 carried on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure completes the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-terrestrial network OAM20. After the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, the non-terrestrial network OAM20 returns a UPF network element configuration response message to the terrestrial network OAM10 to complete the configuration process of the non-terrestrial UPF network element.

[0069] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the registration system of the non-ground UPF network element can also perform the registration process of the non-ground UPF network element. The registration process may be that when the non-ground network OAM20 returns the UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM10, the UPF network element configuration response message carries the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element. Based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the received UPF network element, the ground network OAM10 sends a first network element description file registration request message to the NRF (NF Repository Function) network element 40 to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element 40. Alternatively, when the UPF network element configuration information includes the NRF network element identifier, a second network element description file registration request message is sent to the NRF network element 40 to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element 40. It should be noted that the first network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure, gateway information update information of the designated non-ground infrastructure, and non-ground infrastructure distance information. The second network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure, gateway information update information of the designated non-ground infrastructure, and non-ground infrastructure distance information. In some specific embodiments, after receiving the UPF network element configuration information, the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure can be used to determine whether the UPF network element configuration information contains the NRF network element identifier. If it is included, the UPF network element 30 is directly used to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element 40. If it is not included, the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element is sent to the ground network OAM10 through the non-ground network OAM20, so that the ground network OAM10 registers the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element 40.

[0070] like Figure 1 As shown, the interaction method of the registration system of the non-ground UPF network element includes:

[0071] S102, the ground network OAM 10 initiates a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM 20;

[0072] S104, the non-terrestrial network OAM 20 returns information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured to the terrestrial network OAM 10;

[0073] S106, the ground network OAM 10 selects a non-ground infrastructure from one or more non-ground infrastructures as a designated non-ground infrastructure;

[0074] S108, the ground network OAM 10 sends a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-ground network OAM 20;

[0075] S110, the non-terrestrial network OAM 20 sends the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure;

[0076] S112, the UPF network element 30 on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure completes configuration on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure based on the UPF network element configuration information;

[0077] S114, after completing the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, the non-terrestrial network OAM 20 returns a UPF network element configuration response message to the terrestrial network OAM 10;

[0078] S116, when the UPF network element configuration information does not include the NRF network element identifier, the non-terrestrial network OAM 20 returns the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element to the terrestrial network OAM 10;

[0079] S118, the ground network OAM 10 sends a first network element description file registration request message to the NRF network element 40, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element 40;

[0080] S120, when the UPF network element configuration information includes the NRF network element identifier, the UPF network element 30 sends a second network element description file registration request message to the NRF network element 40 to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element 40.

[0081] It can be understood by those skilled in the art that, in specific implementation, the execution order of the above steps is not limited. Figure 1 This is just an example. For example, S116 to S118 and S120 are in parallel relationship, and you can choose one.

[0082] Those skilled in the art will know that Figure 1 The number of the ground network OAM 10, the non-ground network OAM 20, the UPF network element 30 and the NRF network element 40 is only illustrative, and any number may be provided according to actual needs. The embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0083] Under the above system architecture, a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element is provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the registration method for a non-ground UPF network element provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented by the interaction between the ground network OAM10, the non-ground network OAM20, the UPF network element 30 and the NRF network element 40.

[0084] like Figure 2As shown, a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element applied to ground network OAM provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure includes the following steps:

[0085] S202, initiating a non-terrestrial infrastructure query request to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to provide information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0086] S204, receiving information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM;

[0087] It should be noted that the information of the non-terrestrial infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured includes at least one of the following: non-terrestrial infrastructure type information, non-terrestrial infrastructure identification information and gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure; wherein the gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to characterize one or more gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure and the time period information of each gateway being connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure. Specifically, the non-terrestrial infrastructure type information may, for example, indicate whether the non-terrestrial infrastructure is a high-orbit satellite, a medium-orbit satellite, a low-orbit satellite or other types. The non-terrestrial infrastructure identification information is a symbol used to identify the non-terrestrial infrastructure, for example, it may be an ID, that is, a unique identifier provided to the external non-terrestrial infrastructure. The gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure may be a list consisting of multiple tuples, each of which includes a gateway ID that can be connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure and the time period during which the non-terrestrial infrastructure can maintain a connection with the gateway.

[0088] S206, determining a designated non-terrestrial infrastructure based on information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0089] It should be noted that the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured, that is, one of the one or more non-ground infrastructures is selected as the designated non-ground infrastructure.

[0090] S208, sending a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information;

[0091] It should be noted that the UPF network element configuration information includes at least: base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure; the base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure is used to characterize one or more base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure and the time period information of each base station connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure. In specific implementation, the base station information connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure can be a list consisting of multiple tuples, each of which includes a base station identifier that can be connected to the designated non-ground infrastructure and the time during which the designated non-ground infrastructure can maintain a connection with the base station. For example, it can be pre-specified that when the parameter value for the time during which the designated non-ground infrastructure can maintain a connection with the base station is not set, it indicates that the designated non-ground infrastructure can always be connected to this base station. The UPF network element configuration information can also include: data network name (DNN), supported slice identifiers, NRF identifiers and other required parameters specified in related technologies.

[0092] S210, receiving a UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM.

[0093] It can be seen from the above steps that the registration method of the non-ground UPF network element provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure uses the ground network OAM to initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to determine the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures to be configured with the UPF network element, determine the designated non-ground infrastructure from one or more non-ground infrastructures, and send a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information. A process is provided that can configure UPF network elements on any type of non-ground infrastructure, for example, UPF network elements can also be configured on earth satellites and drones in high, medium, and low orbits, and UPF network elements on non-ground infrastructure can be flexibly configured in mobile networks.

[0094] After completing the configuration of the UPF network element shown in S202 to S210, it is necessary to register the UPF network element with the NRF network element. Accordingly, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, a registration method for a non-ground UPF network element is also provided, such as Figure 3 As shown, in Figure 2 On this basis, the following steps are also included:

[0095] S302, when the UPF network element configuration response message carries the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, a first network element description file registration request information is sent to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

[0096] It should be noted that the first network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure, gateway information update information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure, and non-ground infrastructure distance information. Among them, the UPF network element type is used to indicate whether the UPF network element is configured on the non-ground infrastructure. For example, it can be a Boolean type. When it is set to 1, it represents that the UPF network element is configured on the satellite; when it is set to 0, it represents that the UPF network element is configured on the ground. The base station information update information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure may include: base station related information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure and base station information update time parameters connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure. The base station related information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure is used to indicate the base station ID connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure at the current moment. The base station information update time parameter connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure is used to indicate that the update timer is started when the UPF network element establishes a connection with the current base station. After the set time period, the NF description file of the UPF network element is instructed to update the base station ID and time parameters. The updated parameter values ​​can be pre-configured to the UPF network element configuration information by the ground network OAM for transmission to the UPF network element or directly provided by the ground network OAM. The gateway station information update information of the specified non-ground infrastructure may include: information related to the gateway station connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure and the gateway station information update time parameter connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure. The information related to the gateway station connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure is used to indicate the gateway station ID connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure at the current moment. The gateway station information update time parameter connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure is used to characterize that when the UPF network element establishes a connection with the current gateway station, an update timer is started. After the set time period, the NF description file of the UPF network element is instructed to update the gateway station ID and time parameters. The updated parameter values ​​can be pre-configured by the ground network OAM to the UPF network element configuration information for transmission to the UPF network element or directly provided by the ground network OAM. And in specific implementation, the non-ground infrastructure network and the ground network can achieve time synchronization through a variety of methods. The non-ground infrastructure distance information is used to characterize the distance between the specified non-ground infrastructure and the base station, gateway station, etc. In addition, the first network element description file registration request information may also include parameters such as NF instance identification, NF instance status, N4 interface type (including IP address or FQDN) specified in the relevant technology, which will not be repeated in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0097] exist Figure 1 Under the system architecture shown, the present disclosure also provides a registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element applied to non-terrestrial network OAM, such as Figure 4 As shown, the following steps are included:

[0098] S402, in response to the non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, returning information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured to the ground network OAM;

[0099] It should be noted that after receiving the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured, the ground OAM network determines the designated non-ground infrastructure among one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured.

[0100] S404, receiving a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM;

[0101] It should be noted that the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured.

[0102] S406, sending the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-ground infrastructure, and after completing the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure, returning the UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM.

[0103] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the registration method of the non-ground UPF network element also includes the registration of the UPF network element. Accordingly, the UPF network element configuration response message carries the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, so that the ground network OAM sends the first network element description file registration request information to the NRF network element based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element. In specific implementation, when the UPF network element configuration information does not include the NRF network element identifier, the UPF network element configuration response message carries the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element. The assistance information includes, but is not limited to, information such as the instance identifier of the UPF, the distance of the UPF from the base station and the gateway.

[0104] exist Figure 1 Under the system architecture shown, the present disclosure also provides a registration method for non-ground UPF network elements applied to UPF network elements, such as Figure 5 As shown, the following steps are included:

[0105] S502, based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-terrestrial network OAM, the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure.

[0106] It should be noted that the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured.

[0107] Furthermore, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, a registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element capable of registering a UPF network element is also provided, such as Figure 6 As shown, in Figure 5 On this basis, the following steps are also included:

[0108] S602, when the UPF network element configuration information includes the NRF network element identifier, send a second network element description file registration request message to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

[0109] It should be noted that the second network element description file registration request information is similar to the first network element description file registration request information, and the second network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure, gateway station information update information with the specified non-ground infrastructure, and non-ground infrastructure distance information.

[0110] In order to better illustrate the registration method of the non-terrestrial UPF network element provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a specific example is now given for further explanation. Figure 7 The implementation process of the UPF network element registration method on the satellite in the scenario shown.

[0111] The ground network OAM initiates a query request to the satellite network OAM, requesting the satellite information on which the UPF can be enabled.

[0112] The satellite network OAM returns the query response information of the ground network OAM, providing all satellite information (Satellite UPF Container) that can be configured with UPF network elements, such as Figure 7 The low-orbit satellite information shown is shown in Table 1.

[0113] Table 1 Information about a low-orbit satellite that can be configured with a UPF network element

[0114]

[0115] It can be seen that the value of the satellite category is LEO, indicating that the satellite is a low-orbit satellite; the value of the satellite ID is 23; the information of the satellite-connected gateway (SatGatInfo) indicates that the satellite switches cyclically between the gateway ID 11 and the gateway ID 22, wherein the connection time with the satellite gateway ID 11 is 15 minutes, and the connection time with the satellite gateway ID 22 is 25 (10+15) minutes.

[0116] Based on the above information, the ground network OAM sends a request to the satellite network OAM for configuring the UPF network element with the satellite ID 23, and provides relevant UPF network element configuration information. The UPF network element configuration information includes parameters such as the data network name (DNN), supported slice ID, and NRF ID. The newly added mandatory parameters can be connected to the satellite base station information (SatANInfo) as shown in Table 2.

[0117] Table 2 Satellite and base station connection information (SatANInfo)

[0118]

[0119] It can be seen that the satellite is instructed to cyclically switch between base station ID 1, base station ID 2 and base station ID 3, wherein the connection time with base station ID 1 is 15 minutes, the connection time with base station ID 2 is 10 minutes, and the connection time with base station ID 3 is 15 minutes.

[0120] The satellite network OAM sends the UPF network element configuration information to the satellite. When the UPF network element on the satellite completes the configuration, it returns a configuration completion response message to the satellite network OAM.

[0121] The satellite network OAM returns a configuration completion response message to the ground network OAM, and carries the assistance information (NF Profile AssistInfo) of the newly registered NF Profile of the UPF network element, as shown in Table 3.

[0122] Table 3 NF Profile assistance information (NFProfileAssistInfo)

[0123]

[0124] It can be seen that the instance identifier (NF instance ID) of the UPF network element is 1, the distance between the UPF network element and the base station is DisSat2AN=350km, and the distance between the UPF network element and the gateway is DisSat2Gat=400km.

[0125] Because the UPF network element configuration information carries the NRF identifier, the UPF network element initiates a Nnrf_NFManagement_NFRegister request to the NRF network element to register the network element description file (NF Profile) of the UPF network element. Some parameters of the NF Profile are shown in Table 4.

[0126] Table 4: After the configuration of the UPF network element of the low-orbit satellite is completed, some parameters of the NF Profile are registered to the NRF

[0127]

[0128] It can be seen that: the newly added optional element UPF network element type (UpfType) under the UpfInfo parameter in the NF Profile is 1, indicating that the UPF network element is configured on the satellite; because UpfType = 1, the newly added satellite connectable base station (SatAN_ID) is a mandatory element in the UpfInfo parameter, indicating that the base station ID that can be connected to the satellite at the current moment is 2; because UpfType = 1, the newly added satellite base station information update time (SatAN_Time) is a mandatory element in the UpfInfo parameter. When the UPF network element establishes a connection with the base station ID 2, the update timer is started. After 10 minutes, the NF description file indicating the UPF network element updates the SatAN_ID and SatAN_Time parameters. The updated SatAN_ID is 3, and SatAN_Time is 15min; because UpfType = 1, the newly added satellite connection gateway station identifier (SatGat_ID) in the NF Profile is a mandatory parameter, indicating that the gateway station ID connected to the satellite at the current moment is 22. Because UpfType = 1, the newly added satellite gateway information update time (SatGat_Time) in the NF Profile is a mandatory parameter. When the UPF network element establishes a connection with the gateway ID 22, the update timer is started. After 25 (10+15) minutes, the NF description file of the UPF network element is instructed to update the SatGat_ID and SatAN_Time parameters. The updated SatGat_ID is 11, and SatAN_Time is 15 minutes. The distance between the satellite and the base station (DisSat2AN) is 350km, and the distance between the satellite and the currently connectable gateway (DisSat2Gat) is 400km.

[0129] It can be seen that this specific example provides a method for configuring and registering UPF network elements that can be configured on various types of satellites. In response to the problems caused by frequent satellite switching, through the collaboration between the satellite network and the ground network management plane, and the enhancement of the two user plane network element registration processes, the network element description file is expanded, and the registration and configuration of UPF network elements on the satellite are realized. This lays the foundation for the subsequent air-ground network to achieve the optimal selection of user routes, uplink service data diversion and other functions, and also makes the subsequent development of diversified air-ground services possible.

[0130] It should be noted that the acquisition, storage, use, and processing of data in the technical solution disclosed in this disclosure are in compliance with the relevant provisions of national laws and regulations.

[0131] Based on the same inventive concept, the present disclosure also provides a registration device for a non-ground UPF network element, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in the device embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiment, the implementation of the device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiment, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0132] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element applied to terrestrial network OAM in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 8 As shown, the device comprises:

[0133] The first request initiating module 801 is used to initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information on one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0134] The first receiving module 802 is used to receive information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM;

[0135] The designated non-ground infrastructure determination module 803 is used to determine the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0136] The first sending module 804 is used to send a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information; and

[0137] The second receiving module 805 is used to receive the UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM.

[0138] It should be noted that the first request initiating module 801, the first receiving module 802, the designated non-ground infrastructure determining module 803, the first sending module 804 and the second receiving module 805 correspond to S202 to S210 in the method embodiment, and the examples and application scenarios implemented by the above modules and the corresponding steps are the same, but are not limited to the contents disclosed in the above method embodiment. It should be noted that the above modules as part of the device can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer executable instructions.

[0139] It should be noted that the non-terrestrial infrastructure information of the UPF network element to be configured includes at least one of the following: non-terrestrial infrastructure type information, non-terrestrial infrastructure identification information and gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure; wherein the gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to characterize one or more gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure and the time period information of each gateway connection to the non-terrestrial infrastructure. The UPF network element configuration information includes at least: base station information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure; the base station information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to characterize one or more base station information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and the time period information of each base station connection to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure.

[0140] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, it also includes: a first registration request module, used to: based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, send a first network element description file registration request information to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

[0141] It should be noted that the first network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following:

[0142] UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the specified non-terrestrial infrastructure, gateway information update information to the specified non-terrestrial infrastructure and non-terrestrial infrastructure distance information.

[0143] Based on the same inventive concept, the present disclosure also provides a registration device for a non-ground UPF network element, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in the device embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiment, the implementation of the device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiment, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0144] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element applied to non-terrestrial network OAM in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Fig. 9 As shown, the device comprises:

[0145] The first return module 901 is used to respond to the non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, and return the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured to the ground network OAM, wherein after receiving the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured, the ground OAM network determines the specified non-ground infrastructure in the one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0146] The third receiving module 902 is used to receive the UPF network element configuration request message and the UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the specified non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the specified non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; and

[0147] The second sending module 903 is used to send the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-ground infrastructure, and after completing the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure, return the UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM.

[0148] It should be noted that the first return module 901, the third receiving module 902 and the second sending module 903 correspond to S402 to S406 in the method embodiment, and the examples and application scenarios implemented by the modules and the corresponding steps are the same, but are not limited to the contents disclosed in the method embodiment. It should be noted that the modules as part of the device can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer executable instructions.

[0149] It should be noted that, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second sending module 903 is specifically used to carry assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element when returning the UPF network element configuration response message.

[0150] Based on the same inventive concept, the present disclosure also provides a registration device for a non-ground UPF network element, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in the device embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiment, the implementation of the device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiment, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0151] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of a registration device for a non-ground UPF network element applied to a UPF network element in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Fig.10 As shown, the device comprises:

[0152] The UPF configuration module 1001 is used to complete the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-ground network OAM; wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured.

[0153] It should be noted that the above UPF configuration module 1001 corresponds to S502 in the method embodiment, and the examples and application scenarios implemented by the above modules and corresponding steps are the same, but are not limited to the contents disclosed in the above method embodiment. It should be noted that the above modules, as part of the device, can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer executable instructions.

[0154] It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present disclosure, it further includes: a second registration request module, which is used to: when the UPF network element configuration information includes the NRF network element identifier, send a second network element description file registration request information to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element. The second network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the specified non-ground infrastructure, gateway station information update information with the specified non-ground infrastructure, and non-ground infrastructure distance information.

[0155] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented as systems, methods or program products. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be specifically implemented in the following forms, namely: complete hardware implementation, complete software implementation (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software, which may be collectively referred to herein as "circuits", "modules" or "systems".

[0156] Refer to the following Fig.11 1100 according to this embodiment of the present disclosure is described. Fig.11 The electronic device 1100 shown is merely an example and should not bring any limitation to the functions and scope of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0157] like Fig.11 As shown, the electronic device 1100 is in the form of a general computing device. The components of the electronic device 1100 may include but are not limited to: at least one processing unit 1110, at least one storage unit 1120, and a bus 1130 connecting different system components (including the storage unit 1120 and the processing unit 1110).

[0158] The storage unit stores a program code, which can be executed by the processing unit 1110, so that the processing unit 1110 performs the steps of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in the above “Exemplary Method” section of this specification. For example, the processing unit 1110 can perform the following steps of the above method embodiment:

[0159] Initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0160] Receive information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-ground network OAM;

[0161] Determine the designated non-ground infrastructure based on information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0162] Sending a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information;

[0163] Receive the UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM.

[0164] or, in response to a non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, returning information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured to the ground network OAM, wherein after receiving the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured, the ground OAM network determines the designated non-ground infrastructure among the one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0165] Receive a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by a ground network OAM, wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on a designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured;

[0166] The UPF network element configuration information is sent to the designated non-ground infrastructure, and after the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-ground infrastructure, the UPF network element configuration response message is returned to the ground network OAM.

[0167] Or, based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-ground network OAM, the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-ground infrastructure; wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure for the UPF network element to be configured.

[0168] The storage unit 1120 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as a random access storage unit (RAM) 11201 and / or a cache storage unit 11202 , and may further include a read-only storage unit (ROM) 11203 .

[0169] The storage unit 1120 may also include a program / utility 11204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 11205, such program modules 11205 including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which or some combination may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0170] Bus 1130 may represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0171] The electronic device 1100 may also communicate with one or more external devices 1140 (e.g., keyboards, pointing devices, Bluetooth devices, etc.), may also communicate with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 1100, and / or communicate with any device that enables the electronic device 1100 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., routers, modems, etc.). Such communication may be performed via an input / output (I / O) interface 1150. Furthermore, the electronic device 1100 may also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and / or public networks, such as the Internet) via a network adapter 1160. As shown, the network adapter 1160 communicates with other modules of the electronic device 1100 via a bus 1130. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figure, other hardware and / or software modules may be used in conjunction with the electronic device 1100, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0172] Through the description of the above implementation, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example implementation described here can be implemented by software, or by software combined with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the implementation of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the implementation of the present disclosure.

[0173] In particular, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the process described in the above reference flowchart can be implemented as a computer program product, which includes: a computer program, which implements the above-mentioned registration method of the non-ground UPF network element when executed by a processor.

[0174] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, which may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. In some possible implementations, various aspects of the present disclosure may also be implemented in the form of a program product, which includes a program code, and when the program product is run on a terminal device, the program code is used to enable the terminal device to execute the steps according to various exemplary implementations of the present disclosure described in the above “Exemplary Method” section of this specification.

[0175] More specific examples of computer-readable storage media in the present disclosure may include, but are not limited to, an electrical connection having one or more conductors, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0176] In the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, wherein a readable program code is carried. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the above. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium, which may send, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0177] Alternatively, the program code contained on the computer-readable storage medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0178] In a specific implementation, the program code for performing the operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, C++, etc., and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user computing device, partially on the user device, as a separate software package, partially on the user computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In the case of a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., using an Internet service provider to connect through the Internet).

[0179] It should be noted that, although several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned in the above detailed description, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. On the contrary, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided into multiple modules or units to be embodied.

[0180] In addition, although the steps of the method in the present disclosure are described in a specific order in the drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in this specific order, or that all the steps shown must be performed to achieve the desired results. Additionally or alternatively, some steps may be omitted, multiple steps may be combined into one step, and / or one step may be decomposed into multiple steps, etc.

[0181] Through the description of the above implementation, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example implementation described here can be implemented by software, or by software combined with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the implementation of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a mobile terminal, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the implementation of the present disclosure.

[0182] Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate other embodiments of the present disclosure after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. The present disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptations of the present disclosure, which follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art that are not disclosed in the present disclosure. The description and examples are intended to be exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure are indicated by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element, characterized in that: Applied to ground network OAM, including: Initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; Receiving information of one or more non-terrestrial infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM; Determine the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; Sending a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information; Receiving a UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM; When the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, a first network element description file registration request information is sent to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

2. The registration method of non-terrestrial UPF network element according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: The UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, gateway station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and non-terrestrial infrastructure distance information.

3. The registration method of non-terrestrial UPF network element according to claim 1, characterized in that: The UPF network element configuration information includes at least: base station information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure; The base station information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to represent information of one or more base stations connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and time period information of each base station being connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure.

4. The registration method of non-terrestrial UPF network element according to claim 1, characterized in that: The information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured includes at least one of the following: Non-terrestrial infrastructure type information, non-terrestrial infrastructure identification information and gateway station information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure; The gateway information connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure is used to represent information of one or more gateways connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure and time period information of each gateway being connected to the non-terrestrial infrastructure.

5. A registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element, characterized in that: Applied to non-terrestrial network OAM, including: In response to a non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, the ground network OAM returns information about one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured, wherein after receiving the information about the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured, the ground OAM network determines the designated non-ground infrastructure among the one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information about the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; Receive a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on a designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; After sending the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-ground infrastructure and completing the configuration of the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure, when the UPF network element configuration information does not include the NRF network element identifier, returning a UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM, so that the ground network OAM sends a first network element description file registration request message to the NRF network element based on the UPF network element configuration response message, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element; Among them, the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element.

6. A registration method for a non-terrestrial UPF network element, characterized in that: Applied to UPF network elements, including: In response to the non-ground network OAM receiving the UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-ground network OAM; wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is a non-ground infrastructure selected by the ground network OAM from one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-ground network OAM; When the UPF network element configuration information does not include the NRF network element identifier, a UPF network element configuration response message is returned to the non-ground network OAM, so that the non-ground network OAM returns the UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM, so that the ground network OAM sends a first network element description file registration request message to the NRF network element based on the UPF network element configuration response message, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element; Among them, the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element.

7. The registration method of non-terrestrial UPF network element according to claim 6, characterized in that: Also includes: When the UPF network element configuration information includes the NRF network element identifier, a second network element description file registration request message is sent to the NRF network element to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

8. The registration method of non-terrestrial UPF network element according to claim 7, characterized in that: The second network element description file registration request information includes at least one of the following: The UPF network element type, base station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure, gateway station information update information connected to the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure and non-terrestrial infrastructure distance information.

9. A registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element, characterized in that: Applied to ground network OAM, including: A first request initiating module, configured to initiate a non-ground infrastructure query request to the non-ground network OAM, so as to request the non-ground network OAM to provide information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; A first receiving module is used to receive information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-ground network OAM; The designated non-ground infrastructure determination module is used to determine the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured; the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; A first sending module is used to send a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information to the non-terrestrial network OAM to request the non-terrestrial network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-terrestrial infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information; and A second receiving module is used to receive a UPF network element configuration response message returned by the non-terrestrial network OAM; The first registration request module is used to send the first network element description file registration request information to the NRF network element based on the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element when the UPF network element configuration response message carries the assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element.

10. A registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element, characterized in that: Applied to non-terrestrial network OAM, including: A first return module is used to respond to the non-ground infrastructure query request initiated by the ground network OAM, and return the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured to the ground network OAM, wherein the ground OAM network determines the designated non-ground infrastructure among the one or more non-ground infrastructures based on the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured after receiving the information of the non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; a third receiving module, configured to receive a UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on a designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is any non-ground infrastructure of the UPF network element to be configured; and A second sending module is used to send the UPF network element configuration information to the designated non-ground infrastructure, and after the UPF network element is configured on the designated non-ground infrastructure, when the UPF network element configuration information does not include the NRF network element identifier, return a UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM, so that the ground network OAM sends a first network element description file registration request information to the NRF network element based on the UPF network element configuration response message, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element; Among them, the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element.

11. A registration device for a non-terrestrial UPF network element, characterized in that: Applied to UPF network elements, including: A UPF configuration module is used to respond to the non-ground network OAM and receive the UPF network element configuration request message and UPF network element configuration information sent by the ground network OAM, and configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure based on the UPF network element configuration information sent by the non-ground network OAM; wherein the UPF network element configuration request message is used to request the non-ground network OAM to configure the UPF network element on the designated non-ground infrastructure according to the UPF network element configuration information, and the designated non-ground infrastructure is a non-ground infrastructure selected by the ground network OAM from one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured based on the information of one or more non-ground infrastructures of the UPF network element to be configured returned by the non-ground network OAM; The UPF configuration module is further used to: when the UPF network element configuration information does not include the NRF network element identifier, return a UPF network element configuration response message to the non-ground network OAM, so that the non-ground network OAM returns the UPF network element configuration response message to the ground network OAM, so that the ground network OAM sends a first network element description file registration request message to the NRF network element based on the UPF network element configuration response message, so as to register the network element description file of the UPF network element with the NRF network element; Among them, the UPF network element configuration response message carries assistance information of the network element description file of the UPF network element.

12. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: processor; as well as A memory, configured to store executable instructions of the processor; The processor is configured to execute the registration method of the non-terrestrial UPF network element as described in any one of claims 1 to 8 by executing the executable instructions.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the registration method of the non-terrestrial UPF network element as described in any one of claims 1 to 8 is implemented.

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