Session management method and related equipment

Abstract

The invention provides a session management method, and relates to the field of communication, the method is applied to a session management functional entity, and the method comprises the following steps: receiving a session request sent by a source terminal through a source aircraft; generating a session management communication group strategy according to the service types of the session requests of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and sending the session management communication group strategy to a first user plane function entity, so that the first user plane function entity assists the source terminal to complete data communication. According to the method disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, the source terminal can complete data communication with the target terminal through non-ground switching, so that the roundabout time delay that the user plane flow is forwarded back to a ground network is avoided, and meanwhile, the service interruption caused by the disconnection of a feeder line link can be avoided, and thus the satellite data switching service is developed based on the characteristic.

Description

Background Art

[0002] Current communication technology standards only consider scenarios where satellites are used as air interfaces to provide access or as backhaul links. In reality, satellites may lose connection with ground gateways for some reason, and some mobile network services will be interrupted along with the connection.

[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 purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a session management method, a session management functional entity, a first user plane functional entity, a computer-readable storage medium and an electronic device, so as to at least solve the technical problem in the related art that the user plane traffic is forwarded back to the ground network and caused by the delay, and further, once the feeder link between the satellite and the ground gateway is disconnected, it will cause the mobile network service to be directly interrupted.

[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] The technical solution of the present disclosure is as follows:

[0007] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a session management method is provided, which is applied to a session management functional entity, including: receiving a session request sent by a source terminal via a source aircraft; generating a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and sending the session management communication group policy to a first user plane functional entity, so that the first user plane functional entity assists the source terminal in completing data communication.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method also includes: creating an association relationship among aircraft, user terminal list, service type, and first user plane functional entity, and generating a session management communication group policy table; adding the source terminal to the session management communication group policy table according to the service type of the source aircraft and the session request; and obtaining the session management communication group policy from the session management communication group policy table according to the service type.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method also includes: if there is a correspondence between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, the information of the source terminal is added to the corresponding terminal list; if there is no correspondence between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, then a new association relationship between the source aircraft, the source terminal, the service type, and the first user interface functional entity is created in the session management communication group policy table.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: receiving a release message sent by the source terminal via the source aircraft; and deleting the source terminal information in the user terminal list of the session management communication group policy table.

[0011] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a session management method is provided, which is applied to a first user plane functional entity, and the method includes: receiving a session management communication group policy sent by the session management functional entity; receiving a service request for a first destination terminal sent by a source terminal via a source aircraft; and forwarding the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method also includes: if the source terminal and the first destination terminal are in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, then the service request is directly forwarded to the first destination terminal; if the first source terminal and the first destination terminal are not in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, then the service request is forwarded to the second user plane function entity according to the association relationship corresponding to the first destination terminal.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: receiving a service request for a second destination terminal forwarded by a third user plane function entity; and forwarding the service request to the second destination terminal according to a session management communication group policy.

[0014] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a session management functional entity is provided, which functional entity includes: a session request receiving module, used to receive a session request sent by a source terminal through a source aircraft and a corresponding first user plane functional entity; a policy generating module, used to generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and a policy sending module, used to send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane functional entity, so that the first user plane functional entity assists the source terminal in completing data communication.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a first user plane functional entity is provided, which functional entity includes: a policy receiving module for receiving a session management communication group policy sent by a session management functional entity; a service request receiving module for receiving a service request sent by a source terminal to a first destination terminal via a source aircraft; and a service request forwarding module for forwarding the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0016] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a session management system is provided, which includes: a source terminal, a session management function entity, a first user plane function entity, and a first destination terminal, wherein the session management function entity is used to receive a session request sent by the source terminal through a source aircraft and a corresponding first user plane function entity; generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane function entity; the first user plane function entity is used to receive the session management communication group policy sent by the session management function entity; receive a service request sent by the source terminal to the first destination terminal through the source aircraft; and forward the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the above-mentioned session management method by executing the executable instructions.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the above-mentioned session management method is implemented.

[0019] The method of the disclosed embodiment enhances the session management function so that the session management function entity generates a session management communication group policy, and enhances the user plane function so that the user plane function entity implements message forwarding according to the session management communication group policy, so that the source terminal can complete data communication with the destination terminal through non-ground exchange, avoiding the circuitous delay of the user plane traffic being forwarded back to the ground network, and also avoiding the service interruption caused by the disconnection of the feeder link, so as to carry out on-board data exchange services based on this feature.

[0020] In particular, the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure is aimed at mobile phone voice services and emergency communication services provided by future non-terrestrial networks, and has good application prospects and value.

[0021] 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

[0022] 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.

[0023] Figure 1A schematic diagram of the network architecture of an air-to-ground scenario terminal communication system in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0024] Figure 2 A flow chart of a session management method applied to a session management function entity in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0025] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a process for generating a session management communication group policy applied to a session management function entity in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figure 4 A flow chart of a session management method applied to a first user plane functional entity in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0027] Figure 5 A flow chart of a session management method in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0028] Figure 6 A signaling interaction diagram of a session management method based on a PDU session establishment process in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0029] Figure 7 A structural diagram of a session management function entity in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0030] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a first user plane functional entity in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0031] Fig. 9 A schematic block diagram of an electronic device showing a session management method in an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] 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.

[0033] 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.

[0034] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present disclosure, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0035] In response to the technical problems existing in the above-mentioned related technologies, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a session management method, a session management functional entity, a first user plane functional entity, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium, so as to solve at least one or all of the above-mentioned technical problems.

[0036] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the network architecture of a space-ground-ground scenario terminal communication system in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The system includes: a plurality of terminals 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d, a plurality of non-ground network devices 120a / 120b, a base station 130, a user plane function entity 140a / 140b / 140c, and a session management function entity 150.

[0037] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d may be a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, a game console, a tablet computer, an e-book reader, smart glasses, an MP4 (Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer IV) player, a smart home device, an AR (Augmented Reality) device, a VR (Virtual Reality) device, a navigation device, or a terminal in other future communication systems, or the terminal 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d may also be a personal computer (PC), such as a laptop computer and a desktop computer, etc.

[0038] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d is connected to the non-terrestrial network device 120 via a communication network. Optionally, the terminal 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d can communicate with the non-terrestrial network device 120a / 120b via an air interface access network. The non-terrestrial network device 120a / 120b can complete the signaling interaction and data transmission between the non-terrestrial network devices 120a / 120b through the wireless link between the devices.

[0039] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the non-terrestrial network device 120 a / 120 b may also be equipped with a user plane function entity 140 a / 140 b , which is mainly used for information forwarding between the non-terrestrial network devices 120 .

[0040] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the base station in the system may be a ground base station 130a or a non-ground base station 130b.

[0041] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the user plane function entity (UPF) 140c located on the ground can be a server, or composed of several servers, or a virtualization platform, or a cloud computing service center. The ground user plane function entity 140c is used to provide background services for the application program that provides the session management method for the non-ground user plane function entity 140a / 140b. Optionally, the ground user plane function entity 140c undertakes the main computing work, and the non-ground user plane function entity 140a / 140b undertakes the secondary computing work; or, the ground user plane function entity 140c undertakes the secondary computing work, and the non-ground user plane function entity 140a / 140b undertakes the main computing work; or, the non-ground user plane function entity 140a / 140b and the ground user plane function entity 140c adopt a distributed computing architecture for collaborative computing.

[0042] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the non-ground network device 120 may be a satellite (e.g., an artificial earth satellite) that provides wireless access services to the terminal 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d. The terminal 110a-110d transmits the wireless resources of the ground base station (not shown) through the satellite, and provides reliable wireless transmission protocols and data encryption protocols. The satellite may be a geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite, a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite and a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite in a non-geostationary orbit, or a high altitude platform station (HAPS). In some optional embodiments, the terminal 110a / 110b / 110c / 110d may also be a high altitude aircraft (unmanned aerial vehicle system), a ship system or other non-ground base stations that can be used for wireless communication, such as non-terrestrial evolved base stations and 5G base stations.

[0043] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the non-terrestrial network device 120 and the non-terrestrial base station 130 may be independently configured or may be configured on the same non-terrestrial network device.

[0044] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the session management function (SMF) 150: establishes a session for a terminal device, allocates a session identifier (ID), manages or terminates the session; selects a user plane function (UPF) network element; and selects a network exposure function (NEF) network element.

[0045] When a session management method provided by an embodiment of the present application is applied to Figure 1 In the network shown, a process could look like this:

[0046] The session management function entity 150 is used to receive a session request sent by the source terminal 110a / 110b through the source aircraft 120a (and the base station 130a) and the corresponding first user plane function entity 140b; generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft 120a (and the base station 130a) and the source terminal 110a / 110b; and send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane function entity 140b; the first user plane function entity 140b is used to receive the session management communication group policy sent by the session management function entity 150; receive the service request sent by the source terminal 110a / 110b to the first destination terminal 110c / 110d through the source aircraft 120a (and the base station 130a); and forward the service request to the first destination terminal 110c / 110d according to the session management communication group policy.

[0047] It should be noted that the above session management method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied to both the scenario of source terminal access and the scenario of source terminal backhaul.

[0048] It should be pointed out that the nouns or terms involved in the embodiments of the present application can refer to each other and will not be repeated here.

[0049] Below, each step of a session management method in this example implementation will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0050] Figure 2 A flow chart of a session management method applied to a session management function entity in an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 2 As shown, the method 200 may include the following steps:

[0051] In step S210 , a session request sent by a source terminal via a source aircraft is received.

[0052] The session request is at least used to establish a channel between a source terminal and a destination terminal.

[0053] In step S220, a session management communication group policy is generated according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal.

[0054] For example, the service type may include but is not limited to voice service type (Call) and emergency communication service type (Emergency). The source terminal and the destination terminal may perform communications of different service types through different channels, so generating a channel session management communication group strategy is used to establish associations between different service types, source terminals, destination terminals, and channels. The session management communication group strategy may include one or more such associations, and the association relationship includes at least the identity information of the source aircraft (for example, including but not limited to ID) and the corresponding relationship between the service type and the terminal information. In some embodiments, the association relationship may also include other information such as the content in Table 1 below.

[0055] In step S230, the session management communication group policy is sent to the first user plane function entity, so that the first user plane function entity assists the source terminal to complete data communication.

[0056] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first user plane function entity may be carried on a source aircraft. In other embodiments, the source aircraft may also carry multiple user plane function entities. In still other embodiments, the first user plane function entity may also be independently set on other non-ground network devices.

[0057] The first user plane function entity assisting the source terminal to complete data communication may further include: the first user plane function entity finding the destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0058] The method of the disclosed embodiment enhances the session management function so that the session management function entity generates a session management communication group policy, and enhances the user plane function so that the user plane function entity implements message forwarding according to the session management communication group policy, so that the source terminal can complete data communication with the destination terminal through non-ground exchange, avoiding the circuitous delay of the user plane traffic being forwarded back to the ground network, and also avoiding the service interruption caused by the disconnection of the feeder link, so as to carry out on-board data exchange services based on this feature.

[0059] In particular, the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure is aimed at mobile phone voice services (Call) and emergency communication services (Emergency) provided by future non-terrestrial networks, and has good application prospects and value.

[0060] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step S220 may also include method 300, such as Figure 3 As shown, method 300 may include the following steps:

[0061] In step S310, an association relationship among aircraft, user terminal list, service type, and first user plane function entity is created, and a session management communication group policy table is generated.

[0062] The aircraft in the association relationship may be identity information representing the unique identity of the aircraft, such as an aircraft ID. The service type in the association relationship may include, but is not limited to, a voice service type (Call) and an emergency communication service type (Emergency). The user plane function entity in the association relationship may include information on the unique identity of the user plane function entity, such as a name and / or ID and / or IP address.

[0063] In step S320, the source terminal is added to the session management communication group policy table according to the source aircraft and the service type of the session request.

[0064] Specifically, the source terminal is added to an association relationship corresponding to the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table.

[0065] In step S330, the session management communication group policy is obtained from the session management communication group policy table according to the service type.

[0066] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the session management communication group policy is composed of associations with the same service type in the session management communication group policy table.

[0067] The method of the disclosed embodiment enhances the session management function so that the session management function entity supports the function of creating and maintaining the session management communication group policy table; supports the function of querying the corresponding session management communication group policy according to the service type; and supports the function of sending the relevant session management communication group policy to the relevant user plane management function entity, thereby realizing the technical enhancement of terminal intercommunication data in the air-ground-ground scenario without returning to the ground network.

[0068] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step S320 may further include: if there is a corresponding relationship between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, then the information of the source terminal is added to the corresponding terminal list; if there is no corresponding relationship between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, then a new association relationship between the source aircraft, the source terminal, the service type, and the first user plane functional entity is created in the session management communication group policy table. By adding the operations of adding, modifying, and checking, the decision-making efficiency, accuracy, and predictability of service forwarding are improved.

[0069] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method may further include: the session management function entity receives a release message sent by the source terminal through the source aircraft; and deletes the source terminal information in the user terminal list of the session management communication group policy table.

[0070] The release message is at least used to disconnect the channel between the source terminal and the destination terminal.

[0071] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a release message is generated when the source terminal undergoes switching or user plane function entity reselection due to a change in its own location or a change in its location during access flight.

[0072] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, if the terminal identification list in an association relationship is empty, the association relationship is deleted.

[0073] By timely deleting outdated messages, the efficiency of obtaining association relationship rules can be improved, the maintenance cost can be reduced, and the working performance of the functional entity and the transmission efficiency of the message can be improved.

[0074] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the session management communication group policy table may be as shown in Table (1):

[0075]

[0076]

[0077] As shown in Table (1), in the session management communication group policy table, each row is an association relationship. Specifically, according to the correspondence between aircraft and service type, three different association relationships can be divided; according to the service type, the three association relationships can also be divided into two communication groups, G1 and G2; in each association relationship, the aircraft and service type correspond to a terminal list. Specifically, the first association relationship can be represented as the user plane function entity UPF-SAT1 with the access / return address of 10.0.1.12 of the terminal UE1 and UE2 through the aircraft SAT-GEO-A; the second association relationship can be represented as the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1 with the access / return address of 10.0.11.12 of the terminal UE3 and UE4 through the aircraft HAP-A; the third association relationship can be represented as the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1 with the access / return address of 10.0.11.22 of the terminal UE1 and UE2 through the aircraft HAP-A.

[0078] The embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a flow chart of a session management method applied to a first user plane functional entity. Figure 4 As shown, method 400 may include the following steps:

[0079] In step S410, a session management communication group policy sent by a session management function entity is received.

[0080] The session management communication group policy is generated by the session management function entity, and the session management communication group policy includes one or more channels that have been established by the source terminal for the same service type or different service types.

[0081] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method for generating the session management communication group policy is similar to the method 300. The relevant implementation method can refer to the description of steps S310 to S330, so it will not be repeated here.

[0082] In step S420, a service request to a first destination terminal is sent by a receiving source terminal through a source aircraft.

[0083] In step S430, the service request is forwarded to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0084] The method of the disclosed embodiment enhances the session management function and the user plane function, so that the terminal can complete data communication through non-ground exchange, avoiding the circuitous delay of the user plane traffic being forwarded back to the ground network, and also avoiding the service interruption caused by the disconnection of the feeder link, so as to carry out the satellite data exchange service based on this feature. Furthermore, the method of the disclosed embodiment is aimed at the mobile phone voice service and emergency communication service provided by the future non-ground network, and has good application prospects and value.

[0085] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step S430 may also include: if the source terminal and the first destination terminal are in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, then the service request is forwarded directly to the first destination terminal; if the first source terminal and the first destination terminal are not in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, then the service request is forwarded to the second user plane function entity according to the association relationship corresponding to the first destination terminal.

[0086] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, if there are multiple first destination terminals, the above steps are performed in sequence for each first destination terminal.

[0087] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, if the first destination terminal is an aircraft, the service request is forwarded to one or more second user plane functional entities on the aircraft, and then the one or more second user plane functional entities send the service request to all terminals that meet the service type.

[0088] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first user plane functional entity may also receive a service request broadcast by a source terminal through a source aircraft, and the first user plane functional entity forwards the service request to all second user plane functional entities that meet the service type and the first destination terminal.

[0089] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method may further include: receiving a service request for a second destination terminal forwarded by a third user plane function entity; and forwarding the service request to the second destination terminal according to a session management communication group policy.

[0090] That is to say, the first user plane function entity can not only be used to communicate directly with the source terminal, but also be used to assist other user plane function entities in forwarding service requests.

[0091] The method of the disclosed embodiment supports, through the user plane functional entity, according to the session management communication group strategy, based on the destination parameter conditions, including but not limited to single destination terminal, multi-destination terminal, destination aircraft, and broadcast, the data traffic of a specific terminal is sent to one or more destination terminals of the same service, thereby improving the efficiency and convenience of the forwarding process, and improving the accessibility and communication reliability of network messages. Furthermore, by using the user plane functional entity to support the use of non-terrestrial network connection functions, including but not limited to intersatellite links and aircraft HAP-satellite connections, messages are forwarded to the user plane functions on the relevant destination aircraft, thereby ensuring the integrity, confidentiality and security of the data.

[0092] The present disclosure also provides a flow chart of a session management method. Figure 5 As shown, method 500 may include the following steps:

[0093] In step S502, the session management function entity receives a session request sent by the source terminal via the source aircraft.

[0094] In step S504, the session management function entity creates an association relationship between the aircraft, the user terminal list, the service type, the first user plane function entity and the network address of the first user plane function entity, and generates a session management communication group policy table.

[0095] In step S506, the session management function entity determines whether there is a corresponding relationship between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table.

[0096] If yes, step S508 is executed, and the session management function entity adds the information of the source terminal to the corresponding terminal list.

[0097] If not, step S510 is executed, and the session management function entity creates a new association relationship between the source aircraft, the source terminal, the service type, the first user plane function entity and the network address of the first user plane function entity in the session management communication group policy table.

[0098] In step S512, the session management function entity sends a session management communication group policy to the first user plane function entity.

[0099] In step S514, the first user plane function entity receives a service request for the first destination terminal sent by the source terminal through the source aircraft.

[0100] In step S516, the first user plane function entity determines whether the source terminal and the first destination terminal are in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy.

[0101] If yes, then step S518 is executed, and the first user plane function entity directly forwards the service request to the first destination terminal, and then the process jumps to step S524.

[0102] If not, step S520 is executed, and the first user plane function entity forwards the service request to the second user plane function entity according to the association relationship corresponding to the first destination terminal.

[0103] In step S522, the second user plane function entity directly forwards the service request to the first destination terminal.

[0104] In step S524, the session management function entity receives a release message sent by the source terminal via the source aircraft.

[0105] In step S526, the session management function entity deletes the source terminal information in the user terminal list of the session management communication group policy table.

[0106] The various steps in the above embodiment have been described in detail in the embodiment of the method, and will not be elaborated here.

[0107] The embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a signaling interaction diagram of a session management method based on a protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment process. Figure 6 As shown, the session establishment process 600 may include the following steps:

[0108] In step S610, the terminal sends a session establishment request, including the above session request, to the session management function entity through the base station.

[0109] Step S610 is similar to step S210 and will not be described again here.

[0110] In step S620, the session management function entity updates the session management communication group policy table according to the terminal access aircraft, service and other information.

[0111] Step S620 is similar to step S220 and method 300 , and thus will not be described in detail herein.

[0112] In step S630, the session management function entity sends an N4 session establishment / modification request to the user plane function entity, including the session management communication group policy.

[0113] Step S630 is similar to step S230 and will not be described again here.

[0114] In step S640, the user plane function entity sends an N4 session establishment / modification response to the session management function entity.

[0115] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the session management function entity receives a session release message sent by the source terminal through the source aircraft, where the session release message may also include the above-mentioned release message, the session management function entity deletes the source terminal information in the user terminal list of the session management communication group policy table.

[0116] By enhancing the functions of the session management functional entity and the user plane functional entity, the above session management information is carried in the signaling parameters of the existing PDU session establishment process, and the interface parameters are expanded and implemented. No hardware modification is required, which reduces the system deployment and maintenance costs. It is practical, simple and versatile.

[0117] Also Figure 1 Taking the network shown as an example, the present disclosure also provides an embodiment as follows:

[0118] Step 1) After the source terminal 110a establishes a connection with the source aircraft and completes registration, a session request is initiated.

[0119] Step 2) The SMF 150 selects the corresponding first user plane function entity 140b according to the source aircraft 120a to which the source terminal 110a accesses, and forwards the session request to it.

[0120] Step 3) SMF 150 generates / updates the session management communication group policy according to the local policy or the default or dynamic policy of the source terminal 110a.

[0121] The session management communication group policy before updating may be as shown in Table (2):

[0122]

[0123] The updated session management communication group policy may be as shown in Table (3):

[0124] Step 4) The source terminal 110a calls the destination terminal 110b, the service identifier is Call, and the

[0125]

[0126] The user plane function entity UPF-HAP1 directly forwards the data to the corresponding session of the destination terminal 110b. Meanwhile, the data sent by the destination terminal 110b to the source terminal 110a will also be forwarded by the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1.

[0127] Step 5) The source terminal 110d has established a session and initiated a multi-terminal call with a service identifier of Call. The user plane function entity UPF-SAT1 forwards the session data from the source terminal 110d to the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1. The data traffic is sent from the 10.0.1.12 address of the user plane function entity UPF-SAT1 to the 10.0.11.22 address of the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1. Then, the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1 forwards the data to the destination terminals 110a, 110b, and 110c respectively.

[0128] Step 6) When the destination terminal 110a has response data, the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1 forwards the session data from the destination terminal 110a to the destination terminals 110b and 110c. It is also forwarded to the user plane function entity UPF-SAT1. The data traffic is sent from the address 10.0.11.22 of the user plane function entity UPF-HAP1 to the address 10.0.1.12 of the user plane function entity UPF-SAT1. Then the user plane function entity UPF-SAT1 forwards the data to the source terminal 110d.

[0129] The present disclosure also provides a session management function entity 700, such as Figure 7 As shown, the functional entity 700 may include: a session request receiving module 710, used to receive a session request sent by a source terminal through a source aircraft and a corresponding first user plane functional entity; a policy generating module 720, used to generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and a policy sending module 730, used to send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane functional entity, so that the first user plane functional entity assists the source terminal in completing data communication.

[0130] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the policy generation module 720 may also include: a policy table generation module, which is used to create an association relationship among aircraft, user terminal lists, service types, and first user plane functional entities, and generate a session management communication group policy table; a policy table update module, which adds the source terminal to the session management communication group policy table according to the source aircraft and the service type of the session request; and a policy acquisition module, which is used to obtain the session management communication group policy from the session management communication group policy table according to the service type.

[0131] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the policy table update module can also be used to add the information of the source terminal to the corresponding terminal list if there is a correspondence between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table; if there is no correspondence between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, then a new association relationship between the source aircraft, the source terminal, the service type, and the first user interface functional entity is created in the session management communication group policy table.

[0132] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the functional entity 700 may also include: a release message receiving module, used to receive a release message sent by the source terminal through the source aircraft; a deletion module, used to delete the source terminal information in the user terminal list of the session management communication group policy table.

[0133] The present disclosure also provides a first user plane functional entity 800, such as Figure 8 As shown, the functional entity 800 may include: a policy receiving module 810, used to receive a session management communication group policy sent by a session management functional entity; a service request receiving module 820, used to receive a service request sent by a source terminal to a first destination terminal via a source aircraft; and a service request forwarding module 830, used to forward the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0134] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the service request forwarding module 830 can also be used for: if the source terminal and the first destination terminal are in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, then the service request is directly forwarded to the first destination terminal; if the first source terminal and the first destination terminal are not in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, then the service request is forwarded to the second user plane function entity according to the association relationship corresponding to the first destination terminal.

[0135] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the functional entity 800 may further include: a service request forwarding module, configured to receive a service request for a second destination terminal forwarded by a third user plane functional entity; and forward the service request to the second destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0136] The present disclosure also provides a session management system, which includes: a source terminal, a session management function entity, a first user plane function entity, and a first destination terminal, wherein the session management function entity is used to receive a session request sent by the source terminal through a source aircraft and a corresponding first user plane function entity; generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane function entity; the first user plane function entity is used to receive the session management communication group policy sent by the session management function entity; receive a service request sent by the source terminal to the first destination terminal through the source aircraft; and forward the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

[0137] Regarding the session management function entity 700, the first user plane function entity 800 and the session management system in the above embodiment, the specific manner in which each functional entity and module performs operations has been described in detail in the embodiment of the method, and will not be elaborated here.

[0138] 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".

[0139] Refer to the following Fig. 9 The electronic device 900 according to this embodiment of the present disclosure is described. Fig. 9 The electronic device 900 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.

[0140] like Fig. 9 As shown, the electronic device 900 is in the form of a general computing device. The components of the electronic device 900 may include but are not limited to: at least one processing unit 910, at least one storage unit 920, and a bus 930 connecting different system components (including the storage unit 920 and the processing unit 910).

[0141] The storage unit stores a program code, which can be executed by the processing unit 910, so that the processing unit 910 performs the steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in the above “Exemplary Method” section of this specification. For example, the processing unit 910 can perform the following steps: Figure 2In step S210 shown in the figure, a session request sent by a source terminal through a source aircraft is received; in step S220, a session management communication group policy is generated according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; in step S230, the session management communication group policy is sent to the first user plane functional entity, so that the first user plane functional entity assists the source terminal in completing data communication.

[0142] The storage unit 920 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) 921 and / or a cache memory unit 922 , and may further include a read-only memory unit (ROM) 923 .

[0143] The storage unit 920 may also include a program / utility 924 having a set (at least one) of program modules 925, such program modules 925 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.

[0144] Bus 930 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.

[0145] The electronic device 900 may also communicate with one or more external devices 1000 (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 900, and / or communicate with any device that enables the electronic device 900 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., routing devices, modems, etc.). Such communication may be performed via an input / output (I / O) interface 950. Furthermore, the electronic device 900 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 960. As shown, the network adapter 960 communicates with other modules of the electronic device 900 via a bus 930. 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 900, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0146] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which a program product capable of implementing the above method of the present specification is stored. 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 the present specification.

[0147] The program product for implementing the above method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may adopt a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and may be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and in this document, a readable storage medium may be any tangible medium containing or storing a program, which may be used by or in combination with an instruction execution system, a server, a terminal or a device.

[0148] The program product may be any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, server, terminal, or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of readable storage media include: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0149] Computer readable signal media may include data signals propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, wherein 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 thereof. Readable signal media 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, server, terminal, or device.

[0150] The program code embodied on the readable 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.

[0151] 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 cases involving 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., through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0152] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product or a computer program is provided, the computer program product or the computer program including computer instructions, the computer instructions being stored in a computer-readable storage medium. A processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions, so that the computer device executes the methods provided in various optional implementations of the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0153] 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.

[0154] 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.

[0155] 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.

[0156] Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate other embodiments of the present disclosure after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any modification, use or adaptation of the present disclosure, which follows the general principles of the present disclosure and includes common knowledge or customary techniques in the art that are not disclosed in the present disclosure. The specification 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 session management method, characterized in that: Applied to a session management function entity, the method comprises: receiving a session request sent by a source terminal through a source aircraft; generating a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and The session management communication group policy is sent to the first user plane function entity, so that the first user plane function entity assists the source terminal in completing data communication.

2. The session management method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of generating a session management communication group strategy according to the session request type of the aircraft and the source terminal also includes: Create an association relationship between aircraft, user terminal list, service type, and first user plane function entity, and generate a session management communication group policy table; adding the source terminal to the session management communication group policy table according to the source aircraft and the service type of the session request; and The session management communication group policy is obtained from the session management communication group policy table according to the service type.

3. The session management method according to claim 2, characterized in that: According to the source aircraft and the service type of the session request, the step of adding the source terminal to the session management communication group policy table comprises: If there is a correspondence between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, adding the information of the source terminal to the corresponding terminal list; If there is no corresponding relationship between the source aircraft and the service type in the session management communication group policy table, a new association relationship between the source aircraft, the source terminal, the service type, and the first user plane functional entity is created in the session management communication group policy table.

4. The session management method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving a release message sent by the source terminal via the source aircraft; The source terminal information in the user terminal list of the session management communication group policy table is deleted.

5. A session management method, characterized in that: Applied to a first user plane functional entity, the method comprises: receiving a session management communication group policy sent by a session management function entity; Receiving a service request from a source terminal to a first destination terminal via a source aircraft; and The service request is forwarded to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

6. The session management method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The step of forwarding the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy includes: If the source terminal and the first destination terminal are in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, directly forwarding the service request to the first destination terminal; If the first source terminal and the first destination terminal are not in the same association relationship in the session management communication group policy, the service request is forwarded to the second user plane function entity according to the association relationship corresponding to the first destination terminal.

7. The session management method according to claim 6, characterized in that: After the step of receiving the session management communication group policy sent by the session management function entity, the method further includes: receiving a service request for a second destination terminal forwarded by a third user plane function entity; The service request is forwarded to the second destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

8. A session management function entity, characterized in that: The functional entity comprises: A session request receiving module, configured to receive a session request sent by a source terminal through a source aircraft and a corresponding first user plane function entity; a policy generating module, configured to generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and The policy sending module is used to send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane function entity, so that the first user plane function entity assists the source terminal to complete data communication.

9. A first user plane functional entity, characterized in that: The functional entity comprises: A policy receiving module, used for receiving a session management communication group policy sent by a session management function entity; A service request receiving module, configured to receive a service request sent by a source terminal to a first destination terminal via a source aircraft; and A service request forwarding module is used to forward the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

10. A session management system, characterized in that: The system comprises: a source terminal, a session management function entity, a first user plane function entity, and a first destination terminal, wherein: The session management function entity is used to receive a session request sent by the source terminal through the source aircraft and the corresponding first user plane function entity; generate a session management communication group policy according to the service type of the session request of the source aircraft and the source terminal; and send the session management communication group policy to the first user plane function entity; The first user plane function entity is used to receive the session management communication group policy sent by the session management function entity; receive the service request sent by the source terminal to the first destination terminal through the source aircraft; and forward the service request to the first destination terminal according to the session management communication group policy.

11. 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 session management method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 by executing the executable instructions.

12. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the session management method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

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