Industrial internet service configuration method, device, equipment and network system

Abstract

The invention provides an industrial internet service configuration method and device, equipment and a network system, and relates to the technical field of communication. The industrial internet service configuration method disclosed by the invention comprises the following steps: a core network discovers a terminal and discovers a topological relation and a communication model of the terminal; detecting service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path; determining service quality configuration information according to the service flow information, the topological relation and the communication model, and determining scheduling configuration information; and sending the service quality configuration information and the scheduling configuration information to related network equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to an industrial Internet service configuration method, device, equipment and network system. Background Art

[0002] As one of the typical applications of 5G, URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications) is highly adaptable to industrial Internet scenarios with deterministic requirements such as low latency and high reliability.

[0003] To support URLLC application scenarios, 3GPP 5G NR (New Radio) introduces TWG (Transmission without grant) to further reduce scheduling delay. The UE (User Equipment) can continuously use the specified uplink transmission resources within a gNB activation and deactivation time without multiple DCI (Downlink Control Information) indications, effectively reducing the delay of the UE sending SR (Scheduling Request), BSR (Buffer Status Report), gNB uplink authorization and other processes in the traditional scheduling process. Summary of the invention

[0004] One purpose of the present disclosure is to improve the efficiency and reliability of industrial Internet configuration.

[0005] According to one aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for configuring industrial Internet services is proposed, including: a core network discovers a terminal, and discovers the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal; detects the service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path; determines the service quality configuration information and the scheduling configuration information based on the service flow information, the topological relationship and the communication model; and sends the service quality configuration information and the scheduling configuration information to related network devices.

[0006] In some embodiments, the core network discovers the terminal including: the core network discovers the terminal through network feature identification.

[0007] In some embodiments, an enhanced PCF (Policy Control Function) unit or IISF (Industrial Internet Service Function) unit in the core network discovers the terminal.

[0008] In some embodiments, discovering a terminal through network feature identification includes: discovering a terminal in the network through at least one of identifying industrial flow features and identifying features collected by sensors deployed in the network.

[0009] In some embodiments, discovering the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal includes: obtaining the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal by at least one of identifying features collected by sensors deployed in the network, analyzing features of collected network performance data, or interacting with the platform.

[0010] In some embodiments, the topological relationship includes the topology of the industrial network in which the terminal is located, and the communication model includes at least one of the average delay, jitter, packet loss rate, and burst rate on the transmission path associated with the terminal.

[0011] In some embodiments, detecting the service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path includes: obtaining user plane data information detected and reported by the user plane functional unit; obtaining service flow information based on the user plane data information, wherein the service flow information includes at least one of a service flow identifier, a service flow priority, a service flow type, and a service flow determinism requirement.

[0012] In some embodiments, the service flow priority is positively correlated with the real-time requirements of the service.

[0013] In some embodiments, the service flow type includes at least one of a periodic type and a non-periodic type, wherein when the service flow type includes a periodic type, the service flow information includes a service flow period.

[0014] In some embodiments, the service flow determinism requirement includes at least one of the service's delay upper bound, jitter upper bound, bandwidth lower bound, reliability lower bound, and packet loss rate upper bound.

[0015] In some embodiments, determining the quality of service configuration information includes: determining the quality of service requirement according to the business flow information, the topology relationship and the communication model; and determining the quality of service configuration information based on the policy control functional unit according to the quality of service requirement.

[0016] In some embodiments, the scheduling configuration information includes scheduling period configuration information and time-frequency resource configuration information of the service flow carried by the user equipment connected to the terminal, wherein the wireless access network determines the time interval for initiating a scheduling-free process to the user equipment according to the scheduling period configuration information.

[0017] In some embodiments, determining the scheduling configuration information includes: determining the service flow type of the service flow carried by the user equipment connected to the terminal; determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type as the scheduling period configuration information, wherein the scheduling configuration information includes the scheduling period configuration information.

[0018] In some embodiments, determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: when the service flow type includes a periodic type, and the number of types of cycle lengths of periodic type service flows is 1, determining the time length of the scheduling period as the cycle length of the periodic type service carried by the user equipment or a predetermined clock unit length.

[0019] In some embodiments, determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: when the service flow type includes a periodic type, and the number of types of cycle lengths of periodic type service flows is greater than 1, determining the time length of the scheduling period as the least common multiple of the cycle lengths of each periodic type service flow carried by the user equipment.

[0020] In some embodiments, determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: when the service flow type is a non-periodic type, determining the time length of the scheduling period to be a predetermined clock unit length.

[0021] In some embodiments, determining the scheduling configuration information also includes: when the service flow type includes a non-periodic type, generating wireless resource network scheduling control information, wherein the wireless resource network adjusts the resource allocation for the target non-periodic service as needed after the first cycle after receiving the cache status report reported by the user equipment at the start of the target non-periodic service based on the wireless resource network scheduling control information, until the service end report is received, and then the remaining resources reserved for the non-periodic service in the current scheduling cycle are allocated to other service flows in need.

[0022] In some embodiments, sending quality of service configuration information to relevant network devices includes: sending quality of service rules to user equipment connected to the terminal; sending the quality of service configuration file to the wireless access network; and sending at least one user plane rule for performing classification, bandwidth policy implementation or user plane traffic marking to the user plane functional unit.

[0023] In some embodiments, sending the scheduling configuration information to the relevant network device includes: sending the scheduling configuration information to the user plane function unit through the session management function unit, and sending it to the wireless access network through the session management function unit and the access and mobility management function unit.

[0024] According to one aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, an industrial Internet service device is proposed, including: a discovery unit, configured to discover terminals, and discover the topological relationship and communication model of the terminals; a detection unit, configured to detect business flow information of the terminals on the forwarding path; a configuration information determination unit, configured to determine service quality configuration information and scheduling configuration information based on the business flow information, topological relationship and communication model; an information sending unit, configured to send the service quality configuration information and scheduling configuration information to related network devices.

[0025] According to one aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, an industrial Internet service device is proposed, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute any one of the above industrial Internet business configuration methods based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0026] According to one aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which computer program instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of any one of the industrial Internet business configuration methods described above are implemented.

[0027] According to one aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a core network device is proposed, comprising any one of the industrial Internet service devices described above.

[0028] According to one aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a network system is proposed, comprising: the core network device mentioned above; and a wireless access network, configured to receive service quality configuration information and scheduling configuration information from the core network device, and determine the time interval for initiating a scheduling-free process to a user device connected to a terminal based on the scheduling configuration information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure and their descriptions are used to explain the present disclosure and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present disclosure. In the drawings:

[0030] Figure 1 Flowcharts of some embodiments of the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention.

[0031] Figure 2 Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention.

[0032] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the network architecture related to the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention.

[0033] Figure 4A -D is a schematic diagram of the business flow scheduling process of some embodiments of the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention.

[0034] Figure 5 Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the industrial Internet service device disclosed in the present invention.

[0035] Figure 6 Schematic diagrams of other embodiments of the industrial Internet service device disclosed in the present invention.

[0036] Figure 7Schematic diagrams of some further embodiments of the industrial Internet service device disclosed herein.

[0037] Figure 8 Schematic diagram of some embodiments of the core network device disclosed in the present invention.

[0038] Fig. 9 Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the network system disclosed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] The technical solution of the present disclosure is further described in detail below through the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0040] In related technologies, when the core network configures policies for the business flows of terminals in the industrial Internet, it is necessary to obtain and manually configure business flow information and policy information from the OT (Operational Technology) system offline; with the surge in business types and volumes in existing industrial networks, the business flow cycles, task priorities, and service quality requirements of different UEs and different industrial terminals are heterogeneous and diverse, and manual configuration of business flows is complex, inefficient, and has a high error rate.

[0041] In response to the above problems, the present disclosure proposes an industrial Internet business configuration method, device, equipment and network system to achieve automatic configuration of business flow scheduling rules and control strategies.

[0042] The flowcharts of some embodiments of the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention are as follows Figure 1 shown.

[0043] In step S11, the core network discovers the terminal, and discovers the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal.

[0044] In some embodiments, the core network can actively discover the terminals, topological relationships, and communication models used in the industrial Internet through the industrial Internet service capabilities of the enhanced PCF, or by adding a new network element IISF in the core network. In some embodiments, the terminals used in the industrial Internet (hereinafter referred to as industrial terminals) may include computer equipment, handheld terminals, sensor equipment, mechanical equipment that can interact with the Internet, etc. in industrial scenarios. In some embodiments, the industrial terminal accesses the network by connecting to the UE.

[0045] In some embodiments, the core network can discover industrial terminals in the network by identifying network features. In some embodiments, terminals in the network are discovered by identifying at least one of industrial flow features and features collected by sensors deployed in the network. Industrial flow features may include the traffic and frequency of the business flow of the industrial Internet, and may also include information features included in the business flow, such as business identification, production line identification, etc. In some embodiments, industrial flow data can be collected as samples to train the machine learning model, and the trained model can be used to identify the industrial flow appearing in the network. The features collected by the sensors deployed in the network may include: image features, audio features, etc. collected by the sensors. In some embodiments, the environmental changes detected by the sensors are obtained through the sensor devices deployed in the network, and the industrial terminals (such as production line equipment, etc.) appearing therein are identified. In some embodiments, industrial terminals can be identified with the help of the network's interawareness integration capability. Based on the method in this embodiment, the collection and analysis capabilities of network data can be improved, and the timeliness and automation of discovering industrial terminals appearing in the network can be improved.

[0046] In some embodiments, the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal are obtained by identifying the features collected by sensors deployed in the network, analyzing the features of the collected network performance data, or interacting with the platform. In some embodiments, the features collected by the above sensors may include image features; the features of the analyzed and collected network performance data may be historical information collected within the network, such as transmission delay, bit error rate, data packet forwarding path, etc.; the platform may be various application platforms carried on the operator network where the core network is located, or interacting with the operator network.

[0047] In some embodiments, the topological relationship includes the topology of the industrial network where the terminal is located, and the communication model includes at least one of the average delay, jitter, packet loss rate, and burst rate on the transmission path associated with the terminal. Through such a method, on the basis of discovering the industrial terminal, the state of the network where the industrial terminal is located can be further understood, providing data support for the subsequent generation of configuration information.

[0048] In step S12, the service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path is detected.

[0049] In some embodiments, user plane data information detected and reported by UPF (User Plane Function) can be obtained first, and then service flow information can be obtained based on the user plane data information, wherein the service flow information includes at least one of service flow identification, service flow priority, service flow type, and service flow determinism requirement.

[0050] In some embodiments, the priority of a service flow is positively correlated with the real-time requirement of the service, that is, the higher the real-time requirement of the service, the higher the priority of the service flow.

[0051] In some embodiments, the service flow type includes at least one of a periodic type and a non-periodic type, wherein when the service flow type includes a periodic type, the service flow information includes a service flow period. In some embodiments, when the service flow type is a non-periodic type, the terminal needs to send a BSR (Buffer Status Report) and a BFR (Business Finished Report) to the RAN at the start and end of the service, respectively. In some embodiments, the service rhythm of a periodic service flow is generally fixed, such as material processing and metal parts quality inspection. The duration of a non-periodic service flow is generally uncertain. For example, it is generally uncertain how long it takes to fine-tune the parameter configuration of a device within a certain period of time until it operates ideally. In some embodiments, the service flow type can be determined based on the correspondence between the pre-stored service flow identifier and the service flow type, or by performing periodic analysis based on the characteristics of the service flow.

[0052] In some embodiments, the service flow determinism requirement includes at least one of the service's delay upper bound, jitter upper bound, bandwidth lower bound, reliability lower bound, and packet loss rate upper bound.

[0053] In step S13, quality of service configuration information is determined according to the service flow information, topology relationship and communication model, and scheduling configuration information is determined.

[0054] In some embodiments, determining the quality of service configuration information includes: determining the quality of service requirement based on the business flow information, the topology relationship and the communication model, and then based on the quality of service requirement, based on the PCF, for example, sending the quality of service requirement and the communication model as input information to the PCF, and obtaining feedback from the PCF as the quality of service configuration information. Through such a method, the current functions in the core network can be used to determine the QoS configuration information, reducing the difficulty of implementation.

[0055] In some embodiments, the above steps S11 and S12 can be implemented within the PCF, and the enhanced PCF with industrial Internet service capabilities can determine the service quality configuration information within the PCF, thereby further reducing information interaction operations and improving processing efficiency.

[0056] In some embodiments, the scheduling configuration information includes scheduling period configuration information and time-frequency resource configuration information for the service flow carried by the UE, wherein the scheduling period configuration information includes the time interval for controlling the wireless access network to initiate a scheduling-free process to the UE. The UE can continuously use the specified uplink transmission resources within the time interval without the need for multiple DCI indications.

[0057] In some embodiments, the determined scheduling period configuration information may be related to the service flow type. The service flow type of the service flow carried by the UE may be determined first, and then the time length of the scheduling period may be determined based on the service flow type as the scheduling period configuration information. Through such a method, the precision of determining the scheduling period configuration information can be improved, and the matching degree with the service flow can be improved.

[0058] In some embodiments, determining the scheduling configuration information further includes: generating wireless resource network scheduling control information when the service flow type includes a non-periodic type, wherein the wireless resource network adjusts the resource allocation to the target non-periodic service as needed after receiving the BSR reported by the UE at the start of the target non-periodic service according to the wireless resource network scheduling control information, until the BFR is received, and the remaining resources reserved for the non-periodic service in the current scheduling period are allocated to other service flows in need. In this way, the reserved but unoccupied remaining resources can be allocated to other service flows in need, thereby improving resource utilization while also improving the transmission capacity and efficiency of the service flow.

[0059] In step S14, the service quality configuration information and the scheduling configuration information are sent to relevant network devices.

[0060] In some embodiments, the core network distributes the quality of service configuration information to the UPF, RAN and UE, and distributes the scheduling rules to the UPF and RAN.

[0061] In some embodiments, the quality of service configuration information generally refers to the QoS policy related to the QoS mechanism, such as the QoS rule(s) (quality of service rule) sent by the core network to the UE, the QoS profile(s) (quality of service profile) sent by the core network to the RAN, and the user plane rules for executing classification, bandwidth policy implementation, user plane traffic marking, etc. sent by the core network to the UPF, and does not specifically refer to the QoS rule(s) sent by the core network to the UE. In some embodiments, the core network sends the generated QoS rule(s) to the UE, sends the QoS profile(s) to the RAN, and sends the user plane rule for executing at least one of classification, bandwidth policy implementation or user plane traffic marking to the UPF, thereby completing the configuration of the quality of service information.

[0062] In some embodiments, the core network sends the scheduling configuration information to the UPF through the SMF (Session Management Function) unit, and sends it to the RAN through the SMF and AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) units.

[0063] Based on the method in the embodiment shown above, through automatic identification of industrial terminals and automatic configuration of scheduling rules, the efficiency of business flow scheduling is improved, the reliability and automation level of industrial control are improved, the resource scheduling process of UE business flows is simplified, the overhead of uplink and downlink signaling interactions is reduced, and the flexibility in adapting to diversified business flows is improved, thereby more efficiently meeting the low-latency and high-reliability deterministic requirements of industrial automation scenarios.

[0064] Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention are as follows Figure 2 The implementation steps of the industrial Internet business configuration method can be summarized as discovery, analysis, mapping, and distribution.

[0065] In step 1 (discovery), 5GC discovers industrial terminals based on external feature recognition (static recognition, dynamic capture, etc.), industrial flow feature recognition, etc., or uses the network's synesthesia capability to achieve it; and discovers the topological relationship and communication model of industrial terminals based on external feature information or historical information collected within the network or information interacted with external network platforms.

[0066] In step 2 (parsing), the IISF in 5GC, or the Enhanced-PCF with built-in industrial Internet service capabilities, receives the user plane data information reported by each UPF, and parses the industrial terminal business flow information, such as business flow identification, business flow priority, business flow type, business flow determinism requirements, etc.

[0067] In step 3 (mapping), IISF, or Enhanced-PCF with built-in industrial Internet service capabilities, performs comprehensive calculations on the scheduling cycles of all service flows belonging to the same UE based on the topological relationships of industrial terminals and the service flow types in the service flow information, and maps the service flow requirements in the service flow information to QoS requirements for use as input for PCF policy decisions (Enhanced-PCF with industrial Internet service capabilities can be implemented directly within PCF).

[0068] In step 4 (distribution), the scheduling configuration information including the scheduling period is sent to the UPF via the SMF, and to the RAN via the SMF and AMF; the QoS configuration information is sent to the UPF, RAN, and UE.

[0069] Through this method, the core network can actively detect relevant information such as industrial terminal business characteristics and network topology and automatically generate business flow scheduling rules based on this information, effectively realizing the closed-loop automatic configuration of industrial terminal business flow scheduling rules in the industrial Internet scenario, improving the efficiency of configuration and resource scheduling, and improving the reliability and automation of industrial control; on the basis of comprehensive consideration of different types of business flows, the signaling interaction process is simplified based on the scheduling-free method, and the signaling overhead is reduced. The accuracy and efficiency of business flow scheduling are improved through automatic detection of business characteristics and automatic configuration of scheduling rules, which can effectively meet the low latency requirements of the industrial Internet scenario.

[0070] In some embodiments, taking the configuration of an IISF unit in the core network as an example, an example of a network architecture involving a newly added network element IISF in the core network is as follows: Figure 3 As shown. The IISF unit can discover industrial terminals based on feature data analysis, and can obtain data reported by the user plane. In some embodiments, the industrial terminal is connected to the UE signal, or is part of the UE, or the industrial terminal itself accesses the Internet as a UE. The IISF unit sends the data used to decide QoS to the PCF, and the PCF sends the generated QoS configuration information to the SMF; the IISF sends the generated scheduling configuration information to the SMF. The SMF sends the configuration information to the UPF, or to the UE and RAN via the AMF.

[0071] Through this method, the functional units added to the core network can be combined with the functions of the existing functional units in the core network to fully utilize network resources to achieve industrial terminal discovery and automatic configuration of QoS and scheduling, thereby improving the degree of automation of industrial Internet services and the efficiency and reliability of configuration.

[0072] In some embodiments, determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: when the service flow type includes a periodic type, and the number of types of cycle lengths of periodic service flows is 1, determining the time length of the scheduling period as the cycle length of the periodic service carried by the UE. The situations that can be classified as service flow types including periodic type and the number of types of cycle lengths of periodic service flows is 1 include: the UE only carries one service flow, and the service flow is a periodic service; the service flows carried by the UE include periodic and non-periodic types, wherein there is only one periodic service flow (or multiple periodic service flows have the same period). By such a method, uplink resources can be continuously used within a single service cycle without rescheduling, thereby improving service continuity and ensuring the timeliness of rescheduling. In some embodiments, the time length of the scheduling period can also be determined as a predetermined clock unit length. In some embodiments, the predetermined clock unit length is less than or equal to the cycle length of any periodic service. In some embodiments, the predetermined clock unit length can be a preset basic unit clock length. By such a method, the timeliness of rescheduling is improved on the basis of ensuring certain industrial flow scheduling-free performance. In some embodiments, such as Figure 4A As shown, the service flow carried by the UE is periodic and has the same period (the period is the same as T 1 ), the scheduling period is configured as a service flow period or a basic unit clock.

[0073] In some embodiments, determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: when the service flow type includes a periodic type, and the number of types of cycle lengths of periodic service flows is greater than 1, determining the time length of the scheduling period as the least common multiple of the cycle lengths of each periodic service carried by the UE. The situations that can be classified as service flow types including periodic types, and the number of types of cycle lengths of periodic service flows is greater than 1 include: there are multiple service flows carried by the UE, and all of them are periodic services, and the service cycles are not exactly the same; the service flows carried by the UE include periodic services and non-periodic services, among which there are multiple periodic services, and the service cycles are not exactly the same. Through such a method, uplink resources can be continuously used within a single service cycle of each service flow without the need for rescheduling, thereby improving service continuity.

[0074] In some embodiments, Figure 4B As shown, the service flow carried by the UE is a plurality of periodic services (the periods are T 1 , T 2 , ..., T x , where x is the number of service flows), in some embodiments, at least two service flows have different periods. In this case, the scheduling period is configured as the least common multiple of the service flow periods T C =Gcd(T1 , T 2 , ..., T x ).

[0075] In some embodiments, Figure 4D As shown, the service flow carried by the UE is periodic (the periods are T 1 , T 2 , ..., T x , where x is the number of service flows) and non-periodic type. The scheduling period is configured as the least common multiple of the service flow period of the periodic type T C =Gcd(T 1 , T 2 , ..., T x ). For non-periodic service flows, T C Continue to schedule resources for it in the period (at least enough for it to send BSR), and adjust its resource allocation as needed in the first period after receiving BSR, until it receives BFR, then allocate the remaining resources reserved for it in the current scheduling period to other business flows in need.

[0076] In some embodiments, determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: when the service flow type is aperiodic (i.e., only includes aperiodic services and does not have periodic services), determining the time length of the scheduling period to be a predetermined clock unit length. By using such a method, the preset clock unit length can be used as the scheduling period of the aperiodic services, thereby improving the timeliness of rescheduling while ensuring certain industrial flow scheduling-free performance. In some embodiments, such as Figure 4C As shown in the figure, the service flow carried by the UE is a non-periodic service. The scheduling period is configured as a basic clock unit, and resources are continuously scheduled for it in each clock period (at least enough for it to send a BSR), and its resource allocation is adjusted as needed in the first period after receiving the BSR, until the remaining resources reserved for it in the current scheduling period are allocated to other service flows in need after receiving the BFR.

[0077] The following uses several examples to introduce the process of the industrial Internet business configuration method disclosed in the present invention. The parameters in the examples are only examples of feasible solutions and do not constitute undue limitations on the present invention.

[0078] Assuming that the service flow periods (in ms) of periodic industrial terminals 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8 are 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, and 2 respectively, and the basic unit clock is 1 ms, the QoS automatic configuration and scheduling-free process for each service flow is as follows:

[0079] [Example 1] The service flow carried by the UE has only one cycle length

[0080] UE0 carries the service flows of industrial terminal 0 and industrial terminal 1

[0081] Step 1: IISF actively discovers industrial terminal 0, industrial terminal 1, and UE0 that provides services for them, and discovers the communication model on the UE0-RAN0-UPF0 path.

[0082] Step 2: IISF parses the service flow information about industrial terminal 0 and industrial terminal 1 reported by UPF0, including detecting that their service flow periods are both 2ms.

[0083] Step 3: IISF calculates the scheduling period of UE0 as the period of the service flow 2ms (or the predetermined unit clock period 1ms), and sends the mapped QoS requirements of industrial terminal 0 and industrial terminal 1 and the discovered communication model to PCF for QoS rule decision.

[0084] Step 4: PCF distributes the QoS rules generated in step 3 to UPF0, RAN0 and UE0, IISF distributes the scheduling-free rules to UPF0 and RAN0, RAN0 configures relevant parameters and initiates a scheduling-free process to UE0 every 2ms (or 1ms).

[0085] [Example 2] UE carries service flows of multiple periods

[0086] UE1 carries the service flows of industrial terminals 2 and 3.

[0087] Step 1: IISF actively discovers industrial terminal 2, industrial terminal 3 and UE1 that provides services for them, and discovers the communication model on the UE1-RAN0-UPF0 path.

[0088] Step 2: IISF parses the service flow information about industrial terminal 2 and industrial terminal 3 reported by UPF0, including the detected service flow periods of industrial terminal 2 and industrial terminal 3 being 2ms and 3ms respectively.

[0089] Step 3: IISF calculates the scheduling period of UE1 as 6ms, and sends the mapped QoS requirements of industrial terminal 2 and industrial terminal 3 and the discovered communication model to PCF for decision making on QoS rules.

[0090] Step 4: PCF distributes the QoS rules generated in step 3 to UPF0, RAN0 and UE1. IISF distributes the scheduling-free rules to UPF0 and RAN0. RAN0 configures relevant parameters and initiates a scheduling-free process to UE1 every 6 ms.

[0091] [Example 3] All service flows carried by the UE are aperiodic and have at least two period lengths

[0092] UE2 carries the service flows of industrial terminals 4 and 5.

[0093] Step 1: IISF actively discovers industrial terminal 4, industrial terminal 5 and UE2 that provides services for them, and discovers the communication model on the UE2-RAN0-UPF1 path.

[0094] Step 2: IISF parses the service flow information about industrial terminal 4 and industrial terminal 5 reported by UPF1, including detecting that the service flow type is aperiodic.

[0095] Step 3: IISF calculates the scheduling period of UE2 as 1ms, and sends the mapped QoS requirements of industrial terminal 4 and industrial terminal 5 and the discovered communication model to PCF for decision making on QoS rules.

[0096] Step 4: PCF distributes the QoS rules generated in step 3 to UPF1, RAN0 and UE2, IISF distributes the scheduling-free rules to UPF1 and RAN0, RAN0 configures the relevant parameters and initiates a scheduling-free process to UE2 every 1ms. UE2 needs to send BSR and BFR to RAN0 at the beginning and end of the service respectively. In each clock cycle, resources are continuously scheduled for it (at least enough for it to send BSR), and its resource allocation is adjusted as needed in the first cycle after receiving BSR, until the remaining resources reserved for it in the current scheduling cycle are allocated to other service flows in need after receiving BFR.

[0097] [Example 4] The service flow carried by the UE includes periodic and aperiodic types

[0098] UE3 carries the service flows of industrial terminals 6 and 7.

[0099] Step 1: IISF actively discovers industrial terminal 6, industrial terminal 7 and UE3 that provides services for them, and discovers the communication model on the UE3-RAN1-UPF2 path.

[0100] Step 2: IISF parses the business flow information about industrial terminal 6 and industrial terminal 7 reported by UPF2, including detecting that the business flow period of industrial terminal 6 is 2ms and the business flow type of industrial terminal 7 is non-periodic.

[0101] Step 3: IISF calculates the scheduling period of UE3 as 2ms, and sends the mapped QoS requirements of industrial terminal 6 and industrial terminal 7 and the discovered communication model to PCF for decision making on QoS rules.

[0102] Step 4: PCF distributes the QoS rules generated in step 3 to UPF2, RAN1 and UE3, IISF distributes the scheduling-free rules to UPF2 and RAN1, RAN1 configures the relevant parameters and initiates a scheduling-free process to UE3 every 2ms. UE3 needs to send BSR and BFR to RAN at the beginning and end of the service of industrial terminal 7 respectively. Continuously schedule resources for it within every 2ms (at least enough for it to send BSR), and adjust its resource allocation as needed in the first cycle after receiving BSR, until the remaining resources reserved for non-periodic services in the current scheduling cycle are allocated to other service flows in need after receiving BFR.

[0103] [Example 5] For the service flow of industrial terminal 8 carried by UE4, the scheduling process refers to [Example 1].

[0104] [Example 6] For the service flow of industrial terminal 9 carried by UE5, the scheduling process refers to [Example 3].

[0105] Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the industrial Internet service device disclosed in the present invention are as follows Figure 5 shown.

[0106] The discovery unit 501 can discover terminals, and discover the topological relationship and communication model of the terminals. In some embodiments, the discovery unit 501 can be implemented by an enhanced function in the PCF, or by a newly added IISF unit in the core network. In some embodiments, the discovery unit 501 can discover terminals in the network by identifying at least one of the characteristics of industrial flows and the characteristics collected by sensors deployed in the network. In some embodiments, the discovery unit 501 can obtain the topological relationship and communication model of the terminals by identifying at least one of the characteristics collected by sensors deployed in the network, analyzing the characteristics of the collected network performance data, or interacting with the platform.

[0107] The detection unit 502 can detect the service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path. In some embodiments, the detection unit 502 obtains the user plane data information detected and reported by the UPF, and then obtains the service flow information according to the user plane data information, wherein the service flow information includes at least one of the service flow identification, service flow priority, service flow type, and service flow determinism requirement.

[0108] The configuration information determination unit 503 can determine the quality of service configuration information and the scheduling configuration information according to the business flow information, the topological relationship and the communication model. In some embodiments, the configuration information determination unit 503 determines the quality of service requirement according to the business flow information, the topological relationship and the communication model, and then according to the quality of service requirement, based on the PCF (Policy Control Function, policy control function unit), for example, sends the quality of service requirement and the communication model as input information to the PCF, and obtains feedback from the PCF as the quality of service configuration information.

[0109] The information sending unit 504 can send the quality of service configuration information and the scheduling configuration information to the relevant network devices. In some embodiments, the information sending unit 504 distributes the quality of service configuration information to the UPF, RAN and UE, and distributes the scheduling rules to the UPF and RAN.

[0110] Such a device improves the efficiency of service flow scheduling, enhances the reliability and automation of industrial control, reduces the latency of UE periodic waiting and resource request in traditional dynamic scheduling schemes, simplifies the resource scheduling process of UE service flows, reduces the overhead of uplink and downlink signaling interactions, and improves flexibility in adapting to diversified service flows, thereby more efficiently meeting the low-latency, high-reliability and deterministic requirements of industrial automation scenarios.

[0111] The structural diagram of an embodiment of the industrial Internet service device disclosed in the present invention is as follows Figure 6 As shown. The industrial Internet service device includes a memory 601 and a processor 602. Wherein: the memory 601 can be a disk, a flash memory or any other non-volatile storage medium. The memory is used to store the instructions in the corresponding embodiment of the industrial Internet business configuration method above. The processor 602 is coupled to the memory 601 and can be implemented as one or more integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor or a microcontroller. The processor 602 is used to execute instructions stored in the memory, which can improve the efficiency and reliability of the industrial Internet configuration.

[0112] In one embodiment, it is also possible to Figure 7 As shown, the industrial Internet service device 700 includes a memory 701 and a processor 702. The processor 702 is coupled to the memory 701 via a BUS bus 703. The industrial Internet service device 700 can also be connected to an external storage device 705 via a storage interface 704 to call external data, and can also be connected to a network or another computer system (not shown) via a network interface 706. No further detailed description will be given here.

[0113] In this embodiment, by storing data instructions in a memory and then processing the instructions through a processor, the efficiency and reliability of the industrial Internet configuration can be improved.

[0114] In another embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium stores computer program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method in the corresponding embodiment of the industrial Internet business configuration method. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as methods, devices, or computer program products. Therefore, the present disclosure may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable non-transient storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0115] Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the core network device 81 of the present disclosure are as follows Figure 8 shown.

[0116] The core network device 81 includes an industrial Internet service device 810, which can be any of the ones mentioned above. In some embodiments, the core network device can be a device newly added to the current core network, such as the IISF mentioned above; in some embodiments, the core network device can also be an improved implementation based on the existing core network device, such as the enhanced PCF mentioned above.

[0117] Such core network equipment improves the efficiency of service flow scheduling, enhances the reliability and automation of industrial control, simplifies the resource scheduling process of UE service flows, reduces the overhead of uplink and downlink signaling interactions, and improves flexibility in adapting to diversified service flows through automatic identification, detection and discovery of features, and automatic configuration of scheduling rules, thereby more efficiently meeting the low-latency, high-reliability, and deterministic requirements of industrial automation scenarios.

[0118] Schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the network system disclosed in the present invention are as follows Fig. 9 shown.

[0119] The core network device 91 may be any one of the ones mentioned above.

[0120] The wireless access network 92 can receive the service quality configuration information and scheduling configuration information from the core network device, and determine the time interval for initiating the scheduling-free process to the UE according to the scheduling configuration information.

[0121] Such a network system improves the efficiency of service flow scheduling, enhances the reliability and automation of industrial control, simplifies the resource scheduling process of UE service flows, reduces the overhead of uplink and downlink signaling interactions, and improves flexibility in adapting to diversified service flows through automatic identification, detection and discovery of features, and automatic configuration of scheduling rules, thereby more efficiently meeting the low-latency, high-reliability, and deterministic requirements of industrial automation scenarios.

[0122] The present disclosure is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowchart and / or block diagram and the combination of processes and / or blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0123] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0124] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0125] So far, the present disclosure has been described in detail. In order to avoid obscuring the concept of the present disclosure, some details known in the art are not described. Based on the above description, those skilled in the art can fully understand how to implement the technical solution disclosed here.

[0126] The method and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented in many ways. For example, the method and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. The above order of steps for the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above, unless otherwise specifically stated. In addition, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be implemented as a program recorded in a recording medium, which includes machine-readable instructions for implementing the method according to the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure also covers a recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to the present disclosure.

[0127] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification, claims, and drawings of the present disclosure are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units that are clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices.

[0128] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present disclosure rather than to limit it. Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, ordinary technicians in the relevant field should understand that the specific implementation methods of the present disclosure can still be modified or some technical features can be replaced by equivalents without departing from the spirit of the technical solution of the present disclosure, which should be included in the scope of the technical solution for protection of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An industrial Internet service configuration method, comprising: The core network discovers the terminal, and discovers the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal; Detecting service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path; Determine quality of service configuration information and scheduling configuration information according to the service flow information, the topology relationship and the communication model; The quality of service configuration information and the scheduling configuration information are sent to relevant network devices.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The core network discovering the terminal includes: the core network discovering the terminal through network feature identification.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The enhanced policy control function PCF unit or the industrial Internet service function IISF unit in the core network discovers the terminal.

4. The configuration method according to claim 2, wherein: The method of discovering a terminal by identifying network features includes: discovering the terminal in the network by at least one of identifying industrial flow features and identifying features collected by sensors deployed in the network.

5. The configuration method according to claim 1, wherein: The discovering the topological relationship and communication model of the terminal includes: The topological relationship and the communication model of the terminal are obtained by at least one of identifying features collected by sensors deployed in the network, analyzing features of collected network performance data, or interacting with a platform.

6. The configuration method according to claim 5, wherein: The topological relationship includes the topology of the industrial network where the terminal is located, and the communication model includes at least one of average delay, jitter, packet loss rate, and burst rate on a transmission path associated with the terminal.

7. The configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The detecting the service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path comprises: Obtain user plane data information detected and reported by the user plane functional unit; The service flow information is acquired according to the user plane data information, wherein the service flow information includes at least one of a service flow identifier, a service flow priority, a service flow type, and a service flow determinism requirement.

8. The configuration method according to claim 7, wherein: The service flow priority is positively correlated with the real-time requirement of the service.

9. The configuration method according to claim 7, wherein: The service flow type includes at least one of a periodic type and a non-periodic type, wherein when the service flow type includes a periodic type, the service flow information includes a service flow period.

10. The configuration method according to claim 7, wherein: The service flow deterministic requirement includes at least one of the service's delay upper bound, jitter upper bound, bandwidth lower bound, reliability lower bound, and packet loss rate upper bound.

11. The configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: Determining the quality of service configuration information includes: Determine the quality of service requirement according to the service flow information, the topological relationship and the communication model; According to the quality of service requirement, based on a policy control functional unit, the quality of service configuration information is determined.

12. The configuration method according to claim 1, wherein: The scheduling configuration information includes scheduling period configuration information and time-frequency resource configuration information of the service flow carried by the user equipment connected to the terminal, wherein the wireless access network determines the time interval for initiating a scheduling-free process to the user equipment according to the scheduling period configuration information.

13. The configuration method according to claim 1 or 12, wherein: The determining of the scheduling configuration information includes: Determine a service flow type of a service flow carried by a user equipment connected to the terminal; The time length of the scheduling period is determined based on the service flow type as the scheduling period configuration information, wherein the scheduling configuration information includes the scheduling period configuration information.

14. The configuration method according to claim 13, wherein: Determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: When the service flow type includes a periodic type and the number of types of cycle lengths of the periodic service flow is 1, the time length of the scheduling cycle is determined to be the cycle length of the periodic service carried by the user equipment or a predetermined clock unit length.

15. The configuration method according to claim 13, wherein: Determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: When the service flow type includes a periodic type and the number of types of cycle lengths of the periodic service flows is greater than 1, the time length of the scheduling period is determined to be the least common multiple of the cycle lengths of each periodic service flow carried by the user equipment.

16. The configuration method according to claim 13, wherein: Determining the time length of the scheduling period based on the service flow type includes: In the case where the service flow type is a non-periodic type, the time length of the scheduling period is determined to be a predetermined clock unit length.

17. The configuration method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein: The determining of the scheduling configuration information further includes: In the case where the service flow type includes a non-periodic type, wireless resource network scheduling control information is generated, wherein the wireless resource network adjusts the resource allocation to the target non-periodic service as needed after the first cycle after receiving the cache status report reported by the user equipment at the start of the target non-periodic service according to the wireless resource network scheduling control information, until the service end report is received, and the remaining resources reserved for the non-periodic service in the current scheduling cycle are allocated to other service flows in need.

18. The configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: Sending the quality of service configuration information to relevant network devices includes: Sending the quality of service rules to a user equipment connected to the terminal; sending the quality of service profile to the radio access network; and A user plane rule for performing at least one of classification, bandwidth policy enforcement, or user plane traffic marking is sent to a user plane functional unit.

19. The configuration method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: Sending the scheduling configuration information to relevant network devices includes: The scheduling configuration information is sent to the user plane function unit through the session management function unit, and is sent to the radio access network through the session management function unit and the access and mobility management function unit.

20. An industrial Internet service device, comprising: A discovery unit, configured to discover terminals, and discover topological relationships and communication models of the terminals; A detection unit, configured to detect service flow information of the terminal on the forwarding path; a configuration information determining unit, configured to determine quality of service configuration information and scheduling configuration information according to the service flow information, the topology relationship and the communication model; The information sending unit is configured to send the quality of service configuration information and the scheduling configuration information to relevant network devices.

21. An industrial Internet service device, comprising: Memory; as well as A processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19 based on instructions stored in the memory.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19.

23. A core network device, comprising the industrial Internet service device described in claim 20 or 21.

24. A network system comprising: The core network device as claimed in claim 23; and The wireless access network is configured to receive service quality configuration information and scheduling configuration information from a core network device, and determine a time interval for initiating a scheduling-free process to a user equipment connected to a terminal according to the scheduling configuration information.

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